


Jojo's Bizarre Summer

by MorenoX25



Category: Gravity Falls, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Comedy, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Fantasy, Gen, Humor, Magic, Mystery, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-18 23:04:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 69,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8179156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorenoX25/pseuds/MorenoX25
Summary: Joseph thought that accompanying his Uncle Speedwagon to one of his many business trips at the beginning of the Summer was going to be a boring chore. But soon finds out that the small and quaint town of Gravity Falls, Oregon is more than it appears to be.





	1. 『Welcome to Gravity Falls, Jojo』

"Wake up, Jojo! We are almost there!"

A boy, or should I say, young man was woke up from his nap on the reclined passenger seat by a far older man who was driving the car through a road surrounded by trees.

"Uncle Speedwagon…" The 15 year old boy Jojo, a nicknamed so from the syllables of his name, Joseph Joestar, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Remind me again why are we driving through the middle of nowhere?"

Robert E.O. Speedwagon, or Uncle Speedwagon as Joseph called him, was a very rich man since he was in the Oil industry, not to mention he founded the Speedwagon Foundation, dedicated to scientific and medical research for the further help and aid to humanity. Needles to say, he and Jojo could've arrived to whatever their destination was through a private helicopter or at the very least with a driver.

"Because… Erina believes this trip will do you some good."Erina Pendleton Joestar was Joseph's grandmother and sole legal guardian. "You know that your grandmother only wants the best for you."

"Yeah I know…" Joseph wasn't particularly thrilled by this trip, but he could never truly say no to his Granny Erina. Every since he had memory, Granny Erina was there for him as his sole family member since his parents had perished in an accident shortly after he was born. There was also "uncle" Speedwagon, who was his Grandfather Jonathan's best friend whom also died young.

Joseph always wondered if there was something more between his Grandma Erina and Uncle Speedwagon that they let on, even more so when he had them relocate from the UK to New York. But whenever JoJo brought up the subject his grandma would whack him over the head calling him a scoundrel. He never tried to insinuate that his granny and uncle weren't loyal to his grampa Jonathan, he just wondered why they never gave it a chance since they both were very close and single.

"It's true. A change of scenery and fresh air is always good for the heart." Speedwagon continued to try and cheer the boy up.

"I would've preferred to stay home… and plan for the rest of my summer." Joseph crossed his arms in front of him. It's not like he hated to spend time with his Uncle, but traveling with him to the boonies in the middle of nowhere for a business trip wasn't exactly how he wanted to spend the first days of his summer break.

"Think of it like an adventure." Speedwagon insisted. "I'm sure many interesting things could happen, even in a small town like Gravity Falls."

"Whatever you say Speedwagon."

Once in Gravity Falls, Joseph's suspicions about the place had been confirmed. Though it wasn't as backwards and old fashioned as he initially suspected. The placed lacked several things one took from granted in the big cities like New York. I mean, they only have one Mall.

This place was really small.

But what surprised Joseph the most was the locals. New York was infamous by the assortment of weirdos and freaks you found walking down the streets, but Gravity Falls locals were weird in their own right. It was like a Coco-Cola with Lime. Familiar yet different.

Currently, they were inside their shared room the best hotel Gravity Falls had to offer. Needless to say it wasn't exactly a 5-stars resort.

"So, exactly what sort of business are you here for, Uncle Speedwagon?" Joseph asked confused as he lied on his a twin sized bed which mattress felt old. Who or what was in Gravity Falls that could interest an Oiling billionaire that he couldn't found anywhere else with a nicer hotel?

"Oh, it is not for my Oiling Company. It is for the Foundation." His uncle explained. The Speedwagon Foundation besides its technology and medical research, it also helped with wildlife and nature protection and conservation. All to help in the Future of Mankind.

"So, are you gonna buy out the local logging businesses to save some wildlife or something?" the boy rolled his eyes, "Don't you have people to do that for you?"

"I like to be as involved as I can in both my company and the Foundation, thank you very much." Speedwagon boasted proudly in face of Jojo's tone. "Not only that, there is also the meeting with the Northwest Family, tomorrow."

"The name sounds familiar." The young man tapped him temple with his index finger trying to remember where he had heard that name before.

"The Northwest family always throws a massive Summer Party every year where only the rich and the influential are invited." Of course, it was all just an obvious excuse to flaunt their riches and to try and make connections to further their influences. That is why Speedwagon had received an invitation every year ever since he made a fortune with his oil business.

"Sounds like a bunch of snobs to me."Despite coming from the Joestar lineage, which for many years had a great influence in the UK, and having a close relation with a Oil tycoon, Joseph didn't live a life of luxury.

Relatively speaking of course.

Sure he and his family ate in fancy restaurants, lived in a nice big house and had special tutors to teach him instead of going to school. But despite all that, he and his family never really flaunted their money and influence on nobody or gave in to excesses in life like owning dozen of sports cars, yachts, private airplanes or their own tropical island.

"Undoubtedly." Speedwagon agreed with a nod. "That is why I never accepted their invitations. But since they own and control the vast majority of business in this whole state, I have to deal with them now."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Jojo felt sorry for his uncle since both really hated dealing with snobs, who acted like they were superior to anyone else.

"You make it sound like I'm going at it alone."

"Wait! You don't mean…"

**< ==TheNextDay== **

"Welcome to Northwest Manor! We are honored by your visit, Sir Speedwagon!...and company." Both Englishmen were welcomed by the Head of the Family, Preston Northwest, as they entered the main hall of the enormous family mansion.

"Thank you for receiving us in your home, Mr. Northwest!" Speedwagon greeted with decorum, having been accustomed to the life of etiquette once he became successful. "This young lad here with me is the grandson of a dear friend of mine and heir of the Joestar Family Fortune. Joseph Joestar."

"A pleasure to meet you and your family." Joseph also greeted as it should in formal occasions. He was dressed with a white dress shirt with black suspenders under a black vest and black dress pants. It was really uncomfortable wear, but he still dressed accordingly otherwise Granny Erina would be furious with him if she found out. She insisted in him to act like a proper gentlemen despite him being anything but.

"The pleasure is all ours." Despite the head of the Northwest family greeted Jojo with a smile and firm handshake, the English boy could tell his nice demeanor was also an act just to keep up appearances with his rich uncle. "Allow me to introduce you to my lovely wife, Priscilla Northwest." He indicated towards a woman with long brown hair and a smile that definitely had received cosmetic surgery before. "And my precious daughter, Pacifica Elise Northwest." And lastly he showed a girl, with long blond hair who bowed gracefully like a lady at a Gala party.

Before coming , Joseph had been adamant against coming to the mansion, but when Speedwagon told him that the Northwest had a beautiful daughter around his age he had been intrigued. But when they told him "around his age" what it actually meant was "younger than him", around two or three years younger than him. Said difference was very noticeable in their heights with Joseph being a almost a foot taller than the girl who was around 154 cm ( 60.6 in) to his 182cm (71.5 in).

"Now that everyone has been introduced, how about some lunch?" Mr. Northwest offered. "I have my chefs prepared you only the best in English cuisine."

"That is…fantastic." Speedwagon almost bit his tongue. He really wasn't a fan of High Cuisine and elegant dinners (or in this case lunch), but as guests they had to comply in order for business to go smoothly. "Afterwards I hope we can talk business."

"Of course, of course." Mr. Northwest said but it was clear that to Speedwagon that business was the last thing the man wanted to discuss. The Englishman could tell the man wanted to butter him up in order to establish a connection to his Oil Company.

**< ==Later==**

After an uneventful lunch, in which the main topic of conversation was mostly about the Northwest family history and how 'perfect' they were at everything they did. Honestly, Joseph struggled through the whole meal to refrain from bluntly proclaiming how bored he was.

Fortunately, when the meal ended, Speedwagon was quick to suggest moving on with business; something that Joseph didn't have to participate in. Alas that meant he had to wait around until his uncle finished talking with Mr. Northwest, which by the looks of things, might take a while.

"Pacifica, why don't you show Young Joseph around the house while I discuss business with Sir Speedwagon?" The head of the family "suggested".

"Of course, father."

Great, not only was JoJo stuck inside the mansion but now he had to follow the blond girl around while she gave the tour of her house.

Walking around the big mansion, Joesph was baffled at everything he saw. These people didn't just flaunt they riches at you, they smacked you in the face and forced them down your throat! Rare paintings, fancy rugs and antique furniture he could deal with. But peacocks at the gardens and a goddamed skeleton of a whale hanging from the ceiling were just ridiculous.

Now he understood why Speedwagon and Granny Erina prohibited him from many ridiculous luxuries and why both insisted in a more humble-like lifestyle. They didn't want him to end up like these people.

So instead of looking at the extravagance and honest to god waste of money that was the Northwest mansion, Joseph turned his attention towards the only child of the house. Despite his initial disappointment at their initial meeting, Joseph wondered about the girl when during the whole lunch she never made a single sound, and the one instance when Speedwagon asked her a question, her father answered for her. And now that she was giving him the tour of the house, he could tell these weren't her own words since they lacked any passion into them; as if the whole thing had been rehearsed several times before hand.

Joseph always had been good at reading people, and we could tell that Pacifica was enjoying this whole visit just as much as he did. So when they were outside looking at the extensive garden, carefully avoiding the peacocks, he finally butted in.

"Say, Pacifica…"

"Do you have any questions, Mr. Joestar?"

"Whoa! Whoa!" He stopped her right there "Mr. Joestar makes me sound so old and I'm only 15." Now that turned her whole face into an expression of surprise.

"But you are…"

"I get that a lot." People always thought he was older than he was because of his height, so he couldn't fault her for assuming since he was taller than her father. "Friends call me Jojo."

"That would be improper…" She said looking unsure of herself.

"Then just call me Joseph." He offered not wanting to push the issue. "Just drop the ' _mister_ '."

"Very well, Joseph." She said tentatively. "Do you have a question about the garden?"

"No, but I have a question about you." Joseph answered bluntly. "Why are you so afraid of your parents?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm not afraid of them." She denied a little to fast.

"I didn't escape my notice that during lunch not only you didn't speak a peep, but also you were too preoccupied with the silverware." That fact that she hesitated as to what fork to use for the main dish and the furtive look her mother gave her when she was about to pick the wrong one spoke volumes.

"Proper etiquette and good manners is a sign of respect towards our esteemed guests." She spoke almost as if she had been reading from a script.

"Even after I been showing signs that I don't care about this tour?" Almost instantly he could see that Pacifica felt insulted by his comment. "The next thing you'll say is: «Because I'm a Northwest and we have to be perfect at everything.» right?"

"Because I'm a Northwest and we have to be perfect at everything." She responded exactly how Joseph had predicted, which took Pacifica and entire second to realize. "Ha?! How did you…?"

"Simple minded people I can read as easy as an open book." He declared earning an angry look from the girl who was getting red faced.

"That's it, tour is over." She turned away very much in a huff. "We return to the mansion immediately." She crossed her arms indignantly, finally dropping the whole "perfect" doll charade. This made Joseph smile in triumph.

"Nah, I don't want to go back to that boring stuffy mansion." Anything was better than to go back to that borefest. "I'm gonna make myself scarce and check out the town. Wanna come along?" He offered halfheartedly, already guessing what the answer might be.

"No! And you can't leave."

"Why not? Tell me one good reason to stay here, that doesn't have to do with etiquette or being proper?"

"Be-because…" The blond really wanted to rebut but couldn't come up with any good answers. "I will tell on you."

"Perhaps… but when you do I'll already be long gone, unless you want to barge in an interrupt your father and my uncle who are in the middle of their important business talk." Sure it was a cheap tactic to use her father as a threat against her, but if she really was going to go through with it, then she would demonstrate she had more guts than he initially believed.

"I…I…" She stuttered.

Jojo wondered if he should feel disappointed or not. "So then… see ya later." He turned around to look for an exit but he was suddenly stopped by Pacifica's shout.

"Wait!" She said sounding a little more convinced than before. "You can't leave because the main gate is closed and the only way out is to open it from inside the mansion." She finished with a smug look that clearly said "take that!"

"Then I guess I will have to jump over that wall!" Jojo pointed at a tall wall that surrounded the manor and prevented anyone to just break in or in this case, break out.

The blond girl almost laughed as his insinuation. "Don't be ridiculous, you would need a tall ladder to even try something like that."

"Just watch me…" Pacifica look at him as if he was crazy and watch him take a deep breath in preparation of whatever plan he had that was sure to fail. But it was then when she saw his body glow with a little bit of light. Before she could even question whatever it was she was seeing, Joseph bolted towards the wall then he ran up it!

One, two, three whole steps!

And finally with a final push he latched onto the edge of the wall, pulling himself up.

Running towards the wall, Pacifica shout up. "What are you doing?! You're gonna get us in trouble!" If her tone was any indication she was really worried.

Looking down at her Jojo just said, "Just tell them that I went to the restroom and never came back. You couldn't possibly know that I was gonna run away." And with a final cocky smirk was off.

"I can't believe that guy!"

**<** **==ToBeContinued==**


	2. 『Unexpected First Meeting』

Joseph walked through the forest that surrounded most of Gravity Falls with no real hurry. If there was something he had learned from accompanying Speedwagon was that whenever he attended a meeting, people would always drag the whole thing to try and get in his good side for future favors. And with what he had seen of Mr. Northwest, that was most likely the case; meaning that Joseph had several hours to kill. That is unless Pacifica manages to overcome her fear of her father and tells on Joseph about his escape.

If that were to happen, Joseph wondered how Speedwagon would react to the news. Probably not at all surprised by it, especially after sitting through that boring lunch, where Jojo had kept his composure throughout the entire thing. Surely Speedwagon will realize that Joseph's getaway was the lesser of two evils, otherwise the young English boy could've done something that soured whatever business the Oil tycoon had in this place.

He only hoped his uncle doesn't decide to tell anything to Granny Erina.

As Joseph shuddered at the thought of his angered grandmother he accidentally brushed against a dried tree branch. The sudden contact made the English boy look down at his dress shirt praying to not find a tear on what was a gift from his granny. Luckily the shirt was completely fine as if nothing had happened; alas he couldn't say the same thing about the tree branch.

Before it was but a simple dried up tree branch, but now after he had brushed against it, he could see that a few leaves and vines had started to grow. And unintended side effect caused by the lingering power he had used earlier to jump over the wall.

Ever since he was a little boy, Joseph found himself to be able to do things no one else could. Not knowing what it was or how to tell people about it, he kept it a secret from everyone including his Granny Erina. Then, a few years back, Joseph was forced to reveal his abilities when he help save his Uncle Speedwagon from a strange terrorist group who had hijacked their plane.

Speewagon was surprised to discover Joseph's strange abilities, but the boy was even more shocked to learn that his uncle knew exactly what the strange power was:

『 _Hamon_ 』

Also known as the Ripple or Wave Energy.

According to what his uncle told him, Hamon was discovered thousands of years ago that later would become one of the most ancients martial arts practiced by mankind known only by a mere few as 『 _Sendō_ 』(The way of the Hermit Wizard).

Apparently Joseph's grandfather, Jonathan, had learned the ways of Hamon and was a natural born genius; which was saying something since only one in ten thousand bears the aptitude capable of utilizing Hamon. And Joseph was one of them.

Naturally Joseph asked if his father, George Joestar II, was also capable of using this power, but Uncle Speedwagon said that George may have had the talent for it, but he was never given any instruction or training in how to use it.

Speaking of which, Speedwagon insisted him to keep his talent a secret, especially in front of Granny Erina, who believed that the misfortune that befell the Joestar family was in part because of their involvement with the ancient art. Of course, not wanting to upset his grandmother, Joseph refrain from even mentioning anything that could reveal his talent in front of her. Even so, outside of anywhere near his granny, if the situation required it Joseph never hesitated using Hamon.

A good thing that the vast majority of people never really paid enough attention to how he managed to do the things he did with Hamon. Probably their minds didn't register anything that fell outside of their own closed spaces known as reality. Whatever the case, it helped him as to not give any explanations. Not that they would believe the whole "Punching with the power of the sun"-thing.

Joseph kept walking so wrapped in his own thoughts that he didn't realized until it was too later that he kept getting deep into the forest instead of going into town.

"Where the heck am I?" Jojo looked seeing nothing but trees and bushes. He was lost in the middle of nowhere, Oregon. "Great, now what?" Unintentionally he tempted fate to throw him another curve ball, and fate answered back.

"Somebody help!" a high pitched scream resounded throughout the trees.

"What was that?" Joseph turned around towards where he heard the scream come from. "Sounds like a girl." So far into the woods, who knew what kind of trouble she could be in. Acting out without reservations he ran towards the direction of girl's cry for help.

After moving through dense foliage, the English boy arrived to a small clearing where he found a scene he never expected to see even in his most bizarre dreams. "OH. MY. GOD."

There in the middle of the clearing was a small girl, probably around the same age as Pacifica judging from their heights. Said girl was dressed in a very sparkly purple sweater with a big pink cat head on it and have two big yellow star earrings, but her outfit wasn't the strangest thing of the whole scene. No, the strange thing that shocked Joseph was the fact that she was surrounded and being attacked.

By gnomes.

That's right. Freaking gnomes! The same thing old ladies put on their front yards as decorations. Except these ones weren't ceramic statues, but real creatures that were pulling the girls hair and clothes.

After his shocked cry, the girl and the gnomes turned to look at him for a second before the little creatures resumed what they were doing before. It took a few seconds for Joseph to process the whole scene, before snapping out of his stupor. "Hey! What's going on here?!"

"Help, what I thought was my boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes!" The girl answered as she struggled against the gnomes, managing to kick away some of them. "And they are total jerks!"But they turned out to be more than she could handle as they managed to pin her down to the ground.

That wasn't exactly the answer he was honestly expecting, but it was better than nothing. "Hey you, leave the girl alone!" He demanded as he pointed and posed dramatically, hoping to intimidate the little creatures.

But the only response he got was a very casual greeting from a brown bearded gnome; probably their leader. "Hey, there! Uhm…You know… this is really just a big misunderstanding. You see, she's not in any danger. She's just marrying all thousand of us and becoming our Gnome Queen for all eternity. Isn't that right, Honey?" He turned towards the so called future Gnome Queen who was pinned to the ground by wire.

"You guys are Butt faces!" She managed to say before they put a gag on her.

Instead of once again freak out because he was actually speaking with a bloody gnome, Joseph settled to act upon rightful indignation, which was the only thing that made sense in this bizarre situation. "Hey, hey, don't you Gnomes know that polygamy is a bloody crime?" Not to mention kidnapping and forcing a girl to marry them against her will. "You better let the girl go."

"Or else what?" The Gnome leader dared. "You think you can stop us, man? You have no idea what we are capable of." Joseph didn't voice it but he reluctantly agreed that it made a good point. He had no idea if these creatures had some sort of special ability or they could cast curses or something of that nature. "We gnomes are a powerful race." Even so, looking at the tied up girl looking at him with those big brown pleading eyes begging for help, Joseph knew that he couldn't stand and do nothing about it.

"Hey you!" Joseph interrupted what would most likely be a long winded speech. "The next thing you'll say is: «Do not trifle with the might of the Gnome race.» right?"

"Do not trifle with the might of the Gnome race." The leader said exactly as Joseph had predicated and like many others before him, the surprised realization provided an excellent distraction. "Ha?! How did you…?" and once more he was interrupted, yet this time it was by a Hamon charged kick that sent him flying off the clearing.

Joseph didn't know if Hamon was effective or not against creatures like gnomes, but he didn't stop and ponder that answer because soon after the lead gnome was out, he took advantage of the confusion and horror of the other gnomes to jump in ans swipe them away from the tied up girl.

"Come on we have to get out of here." Joseph urged as he tear up the wired keeping the girl tied to the ground. Despite their tiny stature and weak appearance, if what the leader said was true and there was in fact a thousand of them, he wouldn't be able to fight them off at the same time.

"Thanks mister."The girl thanked him as he offered his hand to help her up from the ground, "My name is Mabel. Who are you?"

As Joseph was about to answer, the loud cry of the gnome he sent flying with his Hamon Kick cut through the air. "After him! Don't let him take our Queen!"

"No time, we gotta go!" Moving quickly, Joseph crouched down and with his back turned towards the girl he now recognized as Mabel. "Hop on quick!" He told her and thankfully she didn't hesitate or protest and quickly put her arms around his neck and once she had a firm grip on his, he ran away.

"He's getting away with our queen! No! no! no! no!" The gnome leader cried out in anger."You've messed with the wrong creatures! Gnomes of the forest: ASSEMBLE!"

『x-x-x』

"Don't worry Mabel I'll save you from that Zombie!" Dipper drove the golf cart he borrowed from Wendy to save his twin sister Mabel from her boyfriend Norman, whom Dipper was convinced was a Zombie. He was in such a hurry that when someone crossed the dirt road he was driving one he barely had any time to slam the brakes. Fortunately, the pedestrian moved out of the way before Dipper could run over them.

"Watch where you are driving you…!" At tall man yell at him and Dipper did only but apologize. Dipper noticed that the man was dressed way too formal to be a simple hitchhiker.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" He repeated over and over again. Then a familiar voice called out for him.

"Dipper?"

"Mabel!" He instantly recognized the voice of her sister and finally realized that her sister was clinging from the neck of the man he almost ran over. Seeing her sister with a stranger after been worried sick for her put him on edge. "Who are you? And what are you doing with my sister?!" He jumped out of the Golf cart demanding answers.

"Don't worry Dipper. He's fine!"Mabel said releasing her hold around of the tall stranger's neck and landed gracefully putting her brother's worries to rest "He was the one who saved me from Norman, who turned out to be a bunch of gnomes stacked over each other."

"Gnomes…?" He repeated not sounding the least bit skeptical of her sister's claim, instead he seemed disappointed. "Huh, I was way off." He then pulled a thick red book from his vest to try and look up the pages that talked about gnomes.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I believe it is better if that we get out of here." The man who saved Mabel urged as he began pushing the boy towards the golf cart. "Now."

"What's the problem? They are just Gnomes." Dipper said dismissively believing that tiny gnomes weren't any threat at all. And as soon as those words left his mouth, the ground beneath them trembled slightly, as if something really big was coming towards them. "That can't be good."

"Come on Dipper let's go!" Mabel grabbed her brother's hand and dragged him towards the front seats of the cart while her savior jumped on the back.

The trio drove away but the trembling sounds that now sounded more and more like giant steps kept getting closer and closer.

Then out of the dense foliage a giant monster gnome that was actually hundreds upon hundreds of gnomes stacked over each other and was catching up to them.

"GIANT SHOCK!" Joseph cried utterly surprised by the appearance of the giant monster. Apparently the Gnomes did have a special ability after all.

"Move, move, move!" Mabel shouted and Dipper tried to accelerate but no matter how fast they went the monster was right behind them.

"Give our Queen back!" The creature demanded as they launched some of the Gnomes that formed the body towards them as projectiles.

Faster than anyone expected, Joseph grabbed onto a baseball bat that was on the back seat of the cart and started swing it bashing gnomes away. But no matter how many times he swung the wooden sport equipment, even he couldn't swap all the gnomes away.

"Look out!"

The ones, who got past Joseph's bat, quickly went to the front seat to stop Dipper from driving away. Then Mabel showed she was capable enough to deal with some of the little creatures as she elbowed and punch them out of the vehicle. Her brother, Dipper, show he was also capable by grabbing one of the little pests and slamming it into the steering wheel.

Joseph was pleasantly surprised by how apt and competent both siblings were even in these dire circumstances. Even so, their collective luck had to run out at some point and it came true when the monster threw an entire tree that flew over them and crashed on the road ahead forcing Dipper to make a sharp turn to avoid collision.

They avoided crashing head first into the tree but the sever swerve cased the golf cart to turn to its side, marking the end of their car chase. The trio got out of the turned over vehicle as fast as they could, and Joseph noticed they had crashed near a large building made of wood. There wasn't much time to think about because the giant gnome monster was casting a shadow over them.

"Stay back!" Dipper shouted as he desperately threw a shovel towards the stacked creature only for it to fail when they punched mid-air the projectile down to the ground. Seeing this, both siblings grabbed unto each other in fear.

"Stay behind me!" Joseph quickly stood up in front to the both of them facing the monster. "If you want to get to them you have to pass through me first!" he said trying to keep the fear out of his voice. The odds were heavily stacked against them and he was sweating trying to figure a way out of this situation.

Street Punks with knifes and make shift weapons? He could deal with. Robbers with fire arms? No problem. But a giant monster? That was something he never thought he would ever had to face in his entire life. He wasn't even sure if Hamon could even help him in this situation.

For the first time in many years, Joseph was at a loss of what to do. Feeling a severe sense of helplessness.

"It is the end of the line! Give us back our Queen before we are forced to do something crazy!"The leader of the gnomes delivered his ultimatum. "Marry us Mabel or the other two will pay."

"I told you already, you have to go through me first!" Joseph tried to summon all the bravado he had left hoping for an idea of what to do to get away from this situation. The idea of running away passed through his mind, but he instantly dismissed it. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he abandoned these kids to their fates, even if he just met them by random chance.

"There's gotta be a way out of this!" Dipper also put himself in front of Mabel Took out his red book desperate to find a weakness in the notes about Gnomes.

Seeing both her brother and her savior put themselves on the line for her sake, made Mabel realize it was time for her to do the saving. "I gotta do it!" she declared making Dipper look at her as if she was crazy.

"What?! No! Mabel, don't do this!" He implored, not wanting to lose her sister to a bunch of gnomes.

"Trust me."

"What?"

"Dipper, just this once. Trust me." Now it was Mabel who pleaded for her brother to listen to her.

Dozens of thoughts passed through Dippers mind. And the words of the author of the book he found in a tree that advised to trust no one, blared the loudest. But Mabel words combined with the look in her eyes managed to convince him otherwise. And so, putting his trust on Mabel he backed away.

"I'm not going to let you do this."Having to convince Dipper was easy, now Mabel had to convince the man that helped her. "There has to be another way."

Mabel stared directly into the man's eyes and said very sure of herself. "This is the only way."

Joseph wanted to protest some more, but the look in the girls eyes made him stop. He recognized that look. It was the same look his eyes would make when he had managed to trick someone into falling for his bluffs to enact a plan. That look spoke volumes and it told him that she didn't believed she could pull this off; she knew she could.

And so, Joseph also moved out of the way, ready to see Mabel pull her plan into action.

"All right Jeff. I'll marry you." Mabel declared looking at the gnome leader who was riding on the very top of the other stacked gnomes.

"Glorious day!" Jeff, celebrated before climbing down from the very top unto the ground below to approach Mabel and present to her a wedding ring. Mabel playing along held out her hand so that Jeff could place the ring on her finger. "Great, now let's get you back into the forest, honey!"

"Now, now, don't forget to kiss the bride." The soon to be gnome queen reminded him.

Jeff was taken a little by surprised but he didn't complain. "Don't mind if I do!" He leaned up to kiss Mabel as he closed his eyes, and this proved to be Jeff's downfall. Because as soon as he eyes were closed, Mabel pulled out a leaf blower out of a nearby bushes and sucked the gnome half-way into the blower.

"That is for Lying to me!" Mabel said angrily. Then she pulled the lever to increase the sucking power. "This is for breaking my heart." She took aim towards the unmoving giant made of stacked gnomes, "And THIS is for messing with my brother!" she turned towards her brother and asked, "Wanna do the honors?"

"Of course!" Dipper stood behind Mable and after a count of three they shot Jeff out of the blower at max power directly to the giant monster who then fell down in a rain of Gnomes as Jeff was sent flying into the distance.

"I'll get you back for this…!" Those were his parting words as he disappeared. The rest of the gnomes looked around looking utterly confused not knowing what to do without a leader giving out orders. Finally they all scurried away like scarred animals when Dipper and Mabel used the leaf blower to blow them away and back into the forest.

Meanwhile Joseph looked on outright astounded by the girl's cleverness to come up with a solution like that. Staring down at his hand, the English boy couldn't help a little out-shined since he was the oldest of the three and felt like it was his responsibility to look after them. Then again, he also felt somewhat proud that they could overcome this adversity with ingenuity rather than mere brute force, showing how smart these two siblings were.

Snapping out of his thoughts Joseph looked back at the two kids as they finished giving each other a somewhat awkward sibling hug, probably glad that each other was safe and sound. After they were done, the two of them turned towards him.

"Hey, Um…thanks from saving my sister from those gnomes back in the woods." Dipper thanked him before he rubbed the back of his head. "And sorry once again for almost running you over with the golf cart."

"Don't worry about it, it was nothing." Any other time he would've give the boy a hard time for almost hitting him, but after this whole ordeal he was happy to let that near fatal accident slide.

"Thank you a lot mister!" Mabel thanking once more with a big smile on her face. Even after all of this she seemed to be in high spirits.

"Please drop the ' _mister_ ', I'm not that old." He sighed in slight frustration. "I'm only fifteen."

"Really?!" Mabel asked almost " _un-believingly_ ". "But you are so tall!" Seriously, he was taller than a lot of adults she knew about.

"Yes, I know." Sometime being freakishly tall was such a pain in the arse.

"Then how do we call you?" Dipper asked, realizing that he never got his name.

Their unexpected companion brushed his brown locks with his hand before he answered. "Joestar. Joseph Joestar." Not unlike a famous spy from England. "But you can call me Jojo."

**< ==ToBeContinued== **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though I said that Jojo has lived in the USA for some time now, explaining his lack of accent. I like to think he lets slip some British expressions like "bloody" and "arse"on occasions.
> 
> Also I prefer the term Hamon over Ripple. I hope that doesn't bother you much.


	3. 『Secrets of the Joestar Family』

After introducing himself, the two siblings return the gesture after they invited him to rest up for a bit inside the wooden building where they crashed the golf cart nearby. Joseph ended up sitting behind the counter inside of what appeared to be a gift shop.  
  
The two kids introduced themselves as Mabel and Dipper Pines. Joseph learned that the kids were twins, explaining why they look so alike, and that they came from Piedmont, California sent here to Gravity Falls for the summer break by their parents. The twins were currently staying with their Great Uncle Stanford Pines, or as they called him, Grunkle Stan at his house/business called the Mystery Shack; a tourist trap where they overcharged gullible visitors for nonsensical attractions and "Mystery" Merchandize.  
  
Joseph could see it was just one big scam, but if people were dumb enough to waste their money in a place like this, that was their own fault. That being said, among all the merchandize that surrounded him inside of the Gift Shop, the Purple Panther shirt on sale at the corner had caught his interest. Joseph also spoke a little about himself. He told the twin he was originally from England but had been living in New York for a few years now, and he had come to Gravity Falls accompanying his uncle for a business trip.  
  
After that, the English boy asked the twins some questions that had been burning on the back of his mind ever since their ordeal with the gnomes came to an end. "I've been meaning to ask you something Mabel." He began slowly not sure how to pose this question.  
  
"What is it Jojo?" She asked still a bundle of energy despite the events of today and acting very receptive of him, adopting his nickname wholeheartedly. Joseph found that a little odd, but then again he did help save her from those gnomes.  
  
"It's about something you say back in the woods." He lifted his index finger to emphasize his next point. "You said: «what I thought was my boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes!»" Those were her exact words. "Does that mean the gnomes impersonated your boyfriend to try and capture you or what?" It wouldn't be bothering him as much if it not were for the peculiar wording. Not to mention, how a bunch of little creatures managed to impersonate a human being?  
  
"Well you see…" She shied away slightly embarrassed. "When I first met Norman, I thought he was just a normal person."  
  
"Mabel, he was very pale, had difficulty walking around and he never blinked."Dipper interrupted bringing up all the reasons why 'Norman' was anything but normal.  
  
"I guess that during the excitement of love I never noticed those things." Mabel excused making Dipper face palm as she continued her story. "Anyway, today Norman and I were having a date walking alone in the woods and it was then when he revealed to me he was six Gnomes stacked over each other all this time, can you believe that?"  
  
No.  
  
Or at least under normal circumstances, he would've call bull in face of such ridiculous tale, but after fighting said gnomes it was near impossible not to take it at face value. So instead of focusing on the ludicrous for fear of his sanity, Joseph focused on the part of her tale that would've bother him if it were not for the whole "gnomes-are-real"-thing.  
  
"Wait, you went on a date with your boyfriend alone in the middle of the woods?" That sort of behavior was the kind that should've raised some alarms for anyone responsible for the safety of their kids. "How old are you again?" He didn't mean to be evil-minded but that scenario was really not appropriate for a little kid like her.  
  
"12, but we'll be 13 by the end of the summer!" She answered unabashed. She was not a little kid, but still not technically a teenager either.  
  
"And you let her do that?" Joseph asked accusingly towards Dipper. "Aren't you her brother?" He was teasing of course, but he was indeed curious as well.  
  
"I-I told Mabel her boyfriend was weird." They boy answered startled by Jojo's accusing gaze.  
  
"He told me he was a Zombie and that he was going to eat my brains." Mabel pointed out and boy did Dipper overshot by a mile with his accusation.  
  
"Really? Why would you think your sister's boyfriend was a Zombie?" He asked leaning over the counter.  
  
"O-Oh, n-no reason…" The boy responded with a small stutter. It was obvious he was hiding something.  
  
"He read it in a nerd book of his." Mabel answer for him causing the boy to snap at her.  
  
"Mabel! I told you not to tell anyone about the journal!" The book said it was hidden for a reason and that there was no one in Gravity Falls you could trust.  
  
"You mean that red book you've been carrying all this time inside your vest?" Joseph pointed out. It hadn't escaped his notice that the boy pulled the red tome looking for answers a few times while they were chased and attacked.  
  
Dipper remained stubbornly silent, not wanting to speak further about the book, but Mabel I appealed to a more rational argument. "Come on Dipper. The book says not to trust anyone on Gravity Falls, but neither he nor I are from here; besides he also saved me from the Gnomes so I trust him." She raised good points but even though she was sticking up to him, Jojo wouldn't put his entire trust on her ability to judge a character seeing as she admitted of being easily fooled by a Gnomes.  
  
Despite of that, Dipper did put his faith on his sister. "I guess you're right." Then he turned and looked up to Jojo directly in the eye. "I'll trust you too." For now. "Yesterday I found this book…" Dipper took out the red book from his vest and proceeded to tell Joseph how he had found the journal in the woods inside of a secret compartment in the forest surrounding the Mystery Shack. Then he showed the English boy the contents of the book, which had dozen upon dozen of detailed pages talking about the many weird things and creatures that could be found in Gravity Falls.  
  
In all honesty it all sounded like rubbish out of a fairytale, but meeting and being attacked by a thousand of said fairytale creatures in the flesh did wonders to Joseph's suspension of disbelief.  
  
"And this here is where the journal talks about the undead." Dipper showed a splash page with a detailed sketch of the supposed Zombie surrounded by dozen upon dozen of little notes. Joseph scanned the page out of mere curiosity but then a certain word written almost on the bottom corner of the page caught his utmost attention.  
  
"Wait a second! What does it say there!?" He pointed at the page almost wanting to snatch the book away from Dipper's hands just so he could take a better look.  
  
"Uh? Oh, here?" Dipper took a closer look at the page slightly taken aback by Joseph's intense reaction. "It talks about the weaknesses of a Zombie." He had read that note before, when he suspected Norman was an undead creature so he could protect Mabel from him. "It says that there are different types of Zombies; destroying the brain is the most effective way of disposing of one but it also says that some of them can be destroyed by direct exposure to sunlight or UV light and something called The Ripple…" The first time he had read that note, Dipper had no idea what the book meant by that.  
  
"Does it say anything else about it? About the Ripple?!" Joseph insisted forcefully, making Dipper to read some more.  
  
"Uhm…It says to refer to the notes about Ripple for more info."  
  
"What are you waiting for? Look for them!" Joseph almost yelled desperately for answers.  
  
Dipper taken back, but did what he was told. "No, no, no, no…" The boy turned page after page until he reach the part where he author of the journal stopped writing, meaning the rest were but blank pages. "There's nothing more about it…"  
  
"Are you sure?!" No, that couldn't be all right? It just couldn't.  
  
"Jojo? What's wrong?" Mabel asked sounding almost scared. "What is this Ripple-thingy?" what could possibly be about that thing that made Jojo act like that?  
  
"It's just…" Joseph took a big breath to try and calm himself, "Sorry for getting like that. Sorry Mabel, sorry Dipper."  
  
"Apologies accepted!" Mabel smiled happy to see Jojo calm down.  
  
"Joseph, what does 'The Ripple' mean?" Dipper was far more curious as to what caused the tall teenager to react like that.  
  
Joseph brought his hand over his mouth and pondered if he should tell them or not. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, he finally answered. "It's complicated…" Sure, it was a lame answer but right he was too preoccupied to go into details. "Look, just… let me check the book to make sure."He neared his hand towards the book, but Dipper was quick to pull it away.  
  
"No, I told you about the Journal so now tell us what the Ripple is." To him that was only fair.  
  
"Ok, I promise to tell you everything I know, but I first I need to know what else it says." Joseph bargained. Of course he could also take the book by force except that was a thing a jerk thing to do, especially to a kid that was so small and lanky compared to him. "Please."  
  
"Come one Dipper, didn't our parents teach us to share?" Mabel said hoping to avoid a fight from breaking out. Still Dipper wasn't entirely convinced.  
  
Seeing as he was stubbornly reluctant to let the journal out of his hands, Joseph came up with a proposal. "How about you hold the book and turned the pages while I just read?" It was an awkward solution but that way they both got what they wanted.  
  
"Fine, we'll do that."Dipper finally relented. "But after that you answer our questions!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Just turn the pages." Joseph said and soon after he began scanning through the journal for more mentions of the Ripple. His eyes would moved quickly throughout the whole page and then he would say "Next!" every time he was done and wanted Dipper to turn the page. It took a while but finally Joseph's eyes found what he was looking for. "Wait hold it right there."  
  
Similarly like the part about the Undead, this one too was a splash page detailing information about the creatures known as Vampires. Among the bundles of information from general descriptions and the differences between real vampires and how they were portrayed by the media, there was a part that discussed the different types of Vampires that existed and their weaknesses. Under that section he found that a weakness shared by all types of vampires was the use of Wave Energy; another way to refer to Hamon a.k.a. Ripple.  
  
And once again, the Author didn't described or mention anything besides just mentioning it. That was really frustrating.  
  
"Should I turn the page again?" Dipper asked sounding tired after holding out the journal for so long over the counter.  
  
"Yeah sure." Joseph sighed, after nothing substantial once more he was about to call quits. But then, when the page turned Joseph's eyes widen in surprise once more. "That's…!" He recognized the sketched image in the journal. The image itself was very memorable but what surprised him the most was when he recalled "where" he had seen it before.  
  
"What're you looking at?" Mabel peered inside, curious about what Joseph was seeing. And what she saw was strange but somewhat underwhelming. "What is it?" She asked Jojo, but the tall teen was still trying to process what he was seeing.  
  
After a few seconds of silent shock, Jojo stood up from the seat he had taken behind the counter looking dazed. "I need to go." He didn't say anything more to excuse himself and walked towards the door.  
  
"Hey wait a second! You promised you would answer our questions!" Dipper exclaimed angry, feeling like he had been just had. But Mabel besides him could tell that something had really startled Jojo.  
  
"Please, you can tell us what's wrong." Whatever it was, maybe they could help, right? Unfortunately her words didn't changed his mind and made him stop.  
  
"Tell me! Do you know who the author is?" The angry boy asked desperately for answers and surprisingly enough Joseph came into a halt and turned his head back to address them.  
  
"I don't know who the author is. But I assure you I'll get to the bottom of this." His voice and eyes were filled with determination. "I know I made a promise but I need to go." He tried to explain, "I know you think it isn't worth much but I give you my word that I'll come back tomorrow with your answers…and maybe a few more."  
  
And with that he exited the Mystery Shack Gift Shop and walked down the dirty road towards town as the sun above was slowly setting moving away for the night and the stars to take over the sky.  
  
Dipper and Mabel watch him go away, both with confused thoughts and theories as to what was going on inside of the tall English teen's mind.  
  
"Dipper what was it that got him like that?" Mabel turned towards her brother.  
  
"I don't know Mabel, the journal doesn't say." Indeed, the page with the sketched image that freak out Joseph didn't offer any detail or explanation beside a caption in big letters that read: "BEWARE".  
  
 **< ==Later==**   
  
The sun was long gone before Joseph finally arrived at his hotel room where he was staying with his Uncle Speedwagon. Inside, said man was waiting for him worried sick about the boy in his charge.  
  
"Jojo! Where have you been?!" Speedwagon asked intensely yet relived that Jojo was safe. "You had me worried sick! I've been looking for you everywhere!Why did you leave the Northwest Mansion? I know you don't like it but you have to learn to be …"  
  
"SPEEDWAGON!" Jojo interrupted what was sure to be a long lecture, and stared at the man he affectionately called uncle with a heated stare. "I want answers Old Man!"  
  
Speedwagon was shocked to hear Joseph called him like that, not to mention the powerful stare he was sending his way. "Jojo?"  
  
"I knew it was strange to come all the way here to this small town for business." At first he didn't thought much about it, but after what he had seen today… "Is it true?"  
  
"W-what is true?" Speedwagon was visibly sweating. The man who could handle being a street punk in his youth and corporative maneuvering at as adult was intimidated by the boy he help raise.  
  
"Is it true that the Speedwagon Foundation has a secret branch dedicated to the supernatural?!" The same way other big corporations generated rumors and urban legends like the frozen head of Walt Disney or the secret ingredient of Coco Cola being an illegal drug, the Speedwagon Foundation had rumors going on that they investigated the paranormal like UFO sightings and that they had secret laboratories with advanced technologies developed in conjunction with the Nazi.  
  
Knowing his Uncle, Joseph believed it was all just rubbish conjured up by crazy conspiracy nuts with tinfoil hats. Now, he wasn't sure any more.  
  
"Jojo! You can't possibly believe…"  
  
"Don't lie to me old man!" Joseph shouted, he needed answers and he needed them now. "I saw many things today… I know this place isn't normal. There are things out there! Creatures that people chalk up as fairy tells or scams; I saw them and they are very real but I'm sure you already know that."  
  
"Jojo please…"  
  
"At first I wanted to believe… believe that it was all a coincidence…" Joseph stepped forward, not backing down from getting to the truth. "But then I saw it… I saw a drawing. A drawing showing the same thing as a picture I found while I was searching through some of your documents many years ago. Do you remember? Remember that day?"  
  
The older man remained silent. He did remember that incident. Joseph had been visiting him with Erina and while both friends chatted catching up with each other, Joseph had scurried away into his office. And when he went looking for him, he found the boy going through a cabinet of his files. At the time, Joseph was but a boy, who was just bored looking for something to entertain himself with. He remembered the boy pulling out a picture and when he noticed what it was, Speedwagon lost it.  
  
It was the only time he had been truly angry with Joseph. Maybe that is why today, Jojo could recall that memory so vividly.  
  
And if what he was telling him was true, then he couldn't hold on to the secret no more.  
  
"Speedwagon, tell me about The Stone Mask."

**< ==NextMorning== **

Dipper looked worriedly at Mabel who was sitting by the window never taking her eyes from the dirt road outside. She was obviously waiting for Joseph's return.

"Mabel, you know you are waiting in vain, right?." Despite the teen giving his word to come back today, Dipper knew that the probability of his return was slim.

"But he promised." Mabel reminded trusting the departed boy's words.

As a pragmatist, he remained unconvinced, "I don't know exactly what sort of information he got from the Journal, but if it was enough for him, he might never come back."After all what other sort of reason would that guy have to come back?

"He was worried, Dipper."She said turning her gaze away from the window and towards her brother, "As if he had found out some sort of big that was been kept secret from him."

"And what makes you so sure of that?" He asked skeptical.

"BECAUSE… I could see it his eyes! I am observant like that." Said the girl that didn't noticed her boyfriend was in fact a bunch of gnomes, but Dipper refrain from reminding her of that for now. "I'm sure that once his done with this personal issue of his, he'll come back and answer all of your nerd questions."

"I wouldn't bet on it."Dipper loved her sister but sometimes she willfully only saw the good side of things and people. It was a quality that made her who she was but that way of thinking would land her in trouble sooner or later.

"Be a Negative Nancy all you want, but I got a good feeling about this. I bet you that Jojo will come back from that road any second now."And lo and behold a car drove up the road towards the Mystery Shack. Mabel jumped up and down excited that her prediction had come true in record time.

Unfortunately, her celebration was cut short the instant that instead of the English boy it was a family of tourists stopping by to check out the many "wonders" inside of the Mystery Shack. Soon after, Grunkle Stan voice cut through the air. "Kids, to your positions! We have clients coming up."

Like any other brother in the word, he teased his sister for being wrong. "I guess you owe me a soda." Causing Mabel to groan.

**< ==Meanwhile== **

Exiting their Hotel, both English men walked towards their parked vehicle to go and fulfill a promise made by Joseph the day before. Speaking of yesterday, Joseph had forgone his fancy clothes he wore to meet the Northwest family, and instead he wore black t-shirt underneath an brown aviator jacket and dark blue pants. Meanwhile Speedwagon dressed in a sharp suit as always.

"Jojo, are you sure about this?" Speedwagon asked hoping for the boy to reconsider.

"I made a promise."The teen answered firmly. "Aren't you and Granny Erina always telling me to act like a gentleman? Well, gentlemen keep their promises, don't they?"

Speedwagon sighed in defeat knowing how stubborn Joseph could get once and idea entered his head. "Very well, but you have to be careful. You wouldn't want to put them and yourself in danger." He reminded.

"I think it is a little too late for that." Joseph got inside the car, prompting his uncle to do the same. "Come on, let's go."

The drive was a silent one, not even the radio was on and the only sounds filling the air were those made by the car itself. Speedwagon didn't try and talk him out of his decision and Joseph took the opportunity to contemplate back the conversation with his uncle the night prior.

* * *

 

_"Jojo where did you…" Speedwagon wanted to know exactly what his charge went through and where did he saw about the cursed object._

_"I'm asking the questions here! Tell me about the Stone Mask!" He wasn't going to allow for any sort of distraction in his quest for answers._

_The old man remained silent for a few seconds before he let out a heavy sigh of defeat. "Jojo before I tell you about the mask I want you to know that I've kept the secret to protect you and Erina."_

_Joseph didn't doubt his words. He always knew his uncle had good intentions and whatever secret the stone mask held, it was surely a big one. "I know you have always been good to Granny Erina and me, but I need to know. I can't be kept in the dark any longer."_

_"Jojo, knowing about the Stone Mask will put you in danger." The tired old man insisted. "Erina already lost her husband and her son; she can't bear to lose you too." That was a low blow and the business man knew it, but he promised to take help and protect the Joestar family, no matter what._

_"I love Granny Erina and I would hate myself if I ever hurt her," He was the only living family she had left and viceversa. And Erina had already suffured enough in her lifetime. "But I'm already deep into it, I can't back down now." Joseph remained determined. "I already know of existence of the supernatural and that the Stone Mask is dangerous. Being kept on the dark here would put me in even more danger."_

_"I should've known something like this would happen." Speedwagon sighed tiredly and took a seat in one of the room's chairs; being reminded of it all really made him feel all of his years. "Once you get a glimpse into the Supernatural it will slowly wrap itself around you and you'll never escape it." In his youth as a trouble maker in the streets of London, he never believed in fate, but after meeting Jonathan all those years back, he started to believe that the Joestar family was destined to struggle against tragedy. "When I discovered you were also capable utilizing Hamon, I was afraid you will follow the same fate as your family before you." Jonathan, Jonathan's father, his son George; they all lost their lives because of the supernatural. And now, Joseph appeared to be fated to follow upon his ancestors steps. All because of that accursed Stone Mask._

_"Uncle Speedwagon…" Joseph eased back a little after seeing the look on his uncle's face. It was a face of tired sadness and regret._

_"I don't know all of the details as to how the Joestar Family got the Stone Mask into their possession. But it all started with the tragic death of your great grandmother, Mary Joestar." What followed was a tale about the tragedies in the Joestar caused by the Stone Mask and the lust for power of a man named Dio Brando._

_"The Stone Mask…it creates Vampires? How?" It was a hard pill to swallow. How did a carved piece of stone could transform a human into an undead creature? "And how does that relate to Hamon?" The Journal where he had read about vampires and the undead specified that their weakness was Hamon._

_"By piercing the wearer's skull and pressing specific point in the brains that supposedly releases you from human limitations; similar to acupuncture but far more sinister." At least that was how Jonathan had expalined it to him; and the trade off for releasing that power was death and transforming into an undead creature. "As for Hamon…'_

_Speedwagon then went on about how Jonathan had learned about Hamon from a very mystifying man called Will A. Zeppeli, whose life and fate was also tied up by the curse that followed the Stone Mask. Apparently the undead powers came from the polar opposite of Hamon Energy and that is why Vampires and the Undead they created were weak against Sunlight which were the same as the ripples created with Hamon._

_"I created the Speedgawon Foundation after coming to America and gaining fortune thanks to my Oil Company, I wanted to help create a better future for mankind and to achieve that, I funded a secret branch dedicated to find and destroy all existing Stone Masks." Otherwise, someone like Dio would come again and try to use the power of the mask to take over the world. "As the expeditions began, we found about the existence of the supernatural apart from the mask itself."_

_"So it is true, those rumors…" Hard to believe that those half-baked theories that people spew in the internet turned out to be true. Although that part about the Foundation working in conjunction with the Nazi was still a bunch of nonsense. "Tell me, exactly why did you came to Gravity Falls for? And who else here know about the Mask and Hamon?" With that the identity of the author of the journal would be revealed._

_"My resons for coming here were entirely business related, but like you said before, through the Foundation I am well aware of the Supernatural Phenomena that often occurs in this place." The old man confessed. "It came to our attention many years ago, after many reports of strange happenings in the area, so an investigation was funded."_

_"Who lead the investigation, who were part of it, how many were they?"Joseph asked but Speedwagon went completely silent. "Speedwagon…?"_

_"I can't tell…"_

_"Rubbish! It was founded by your company and approved by the secret branch of your Foundation, you ought to know!" There was no way he couldn't know and playing dumb now would not help either._

_"What you said is true but the investigation ended over 30 years ago and at the time I was too busy to manage every single thing the Foundation discovered or did." Speedwagon explained._

_"You must have records or reports from the investigation team."_

_"Jojo, because of the dangerous and secretive nature of the missions, all paperwork is redacted accordingly. Even if I pulled out the documents and give them to you, you'll only find a lot of black bars." It was all done to prevent any sort of leak of information and to keep all sensitive data known to just a select few._

_Joseph bit his lip in frustration. "You must now something! Something you remember, someone else, anything!"_

_Speedwagon kept quit for a few seconds with a very thoughtful look on his face. "Straizo."_

_"Uh? Straizo?" Somehow the name was familiar, but he didn't remember from where he had heard it before._

_"He was an ally of Jonathan 45 years ago, and as a Hamon master I hired him to oversee expeditions made by the Foundation." A hamon user was usually sent alongside expeditions where the probability of finding something unnatural was very high as a precaution. Otherwise they would be sending those researches to their deaths. "He probably sent an acolyte to help with the investigation of Gravity Falls."_

_"Well then why don't we ask Straizo to tell us who that person was?" Maybe that way they could shed a light to this mystery. But Speedwagon only shook his head._

_"After succeeding Master Tonpetty as Grandmaster Straizo retire back to their temple back in Nepal*. It's been years since I spoke with him and since they live frugal lives is not like I call them through the phone. The only way to truly know would be to send for him from Nepal."_

_"That would take time…" Joseph clicked his tongue frustrated, nothing but a dead end as to find the identity of the Author who wrote the Journal._

_"I have answered your questions Jojo, now please answer mine."Speedwagon pleaded. "Tell me, what happened to you today? And where did you see the image of the Stone Mask?"_

_Since it was fair for answering his questions about the mask, in return Joseph told an abridged version of that afternoon's events. He skipped some details, and when it came to say where exactly he had seen the Stone Mask, he only answered that he found evidence of the existence of someone who knew about the mask, about Hamon, and the strange happenings of Gravity Falls; he abstained from mentioning the Journal since Dipper had wish to remain a secret and he respected that._

_So having reached the end of his investigation, Joseph needed time to think what he was going to do from now on having learned what he did._

* * *

 

Joseph musings came to an end when the car came to a complete stop; finally arriving to their destination.

"Here we are." Speedwagon said not so enthusiastically. He wasn't really impressed by the run down look the Shack. The place certainly had seen better days. "Jojo, I know you feel like you have to keep your promise, but if you reveal the secret of the mask to others, you'll only be putting them in danger."

"I know." The boy said undeterred. "We better get this over with." He walked up to the Mystery Shack hoping to find the twins, and in doing so he missed the faraway look in his uncle's eyes.

"Knock, knock!" Joseph said as he opened the door to the gift shop. Instead of the twins he had been looking for, inside he found a teenage girl with long red hear and freckles leaning back on a chair with her feet on top of the counter next to the cash register while reading a magazine.

"Welcome to the shack…" The red head girl said in a bored tone not taking her eyes away from her magazine. If this was an example of how she usually performed her job, it made Jojo wonder why the owner bothered to keep her around.

"I'm looking for Dipper and Mabel Pines." The English boy informed and at the mention of the kids names, the cashier finally deemed him to be important enough for her attention.

"Yeah? Why are you looking…" The girl trailed off her eyes widen in surprise when she had to stretch her neck up to see the guy's face. "Wow, you are SO tall." The guys was like, 6 feet tall and looked very bulky even underneath that aviator jacket he was wearing.

"Aye aye, Captain Obvious." Joseph said sardonically. It seemed that wherever he went people would always comment on how tall he was. It didn't offend him or anything but it got grating after a while.

"Hey, no need to…" The cashier was about to tell the guy off for his sarcasm, when a high pitched scream interrupted her.

"JOJO!"The scream belonged to none other than Mabel who was standing at the door. "I was right! You did come back!" Mabel bounced towards the tall teen unreservedly ecstatic."Dipper! Come quick!"

"I heard Mabel, no need to scream." The boy said as he too entered through the same door as his sister, then he turned his attention to the guy who bailed on them without answering any of their questions. "What are you doing here?" There must be an ulterior reason for his return otherwise why bother to come back?

It was obvious in his voice that the boy didn't trust Joseph after yesterday's little 'betrayal'. Jojo understood where the boy was coming from and he didn't let his tone bother him. Instead he gave him a smile in return. "Why else? I promised I'd come back, didn't I? And Joseph Joestar always keeps his promises."

"See I told you, Dipper! We could totally trust him." She sang happily.

"So, you will answer our questions?" Dipper asked still sounding a little unsure.

"Ask away, little guy." He made a promise and he intended to keep it. Although he wasn't sure about answering the boy's questions in front of the red headed cashier, then again with how disinterested she was acting out earlier, she might chalk up their conversation as simple childish nonsense or something like that.

"Wait; is this the guy you two were talking about earlier?" The red head asked looking between the twins and the tall man. "You guys were right, he really doesn´t look like a teenager." The guy was over taller than many adults she knew and the bulkiness didn't help matters.

"I get that a lot."Seriously, enough about his height already. "I really am 15 years old."

"Well then," Dipper said hoping to finally get some answers. "I guess my first question for you is…"

"Whoa dude, is that a genuine Air Force Aviator Jacket?" The voice of a new arrival cut in before Dipper could finish his question. This new arrival was a stocky man wearing a brown cap and a large greenish shirt with a big question mark on the center. Joseph noted it was the same type of shirt that the Mystery Shack sold.

"Yes, it is genuine."Jojo answered impressed that someone noticed his jacket. It was a replica of the RAF Jacket used by pilots during WWII."Got it from my Dad; he was in the Royal Air Force." Well, more like inherited, but there was no need to mention that.

"Your dad flew planes?! That is awesome dude." The man exclaimed amazed. "I'm Soos by the way. Nice meeting you dude."

"The same." Joseph didn't know what to think of this guy or his name, probably just a nickname, but so far he seemed friendly at least. "I'm Joseph Joestar but friends call me Jojo."In fact he much preferred to be called that. Then he turned around and pointed at the red head cashier, "And what should I call you besides the she who state of the obvious."

The cashier slightly miffed by his jabs at her, defaulted to the typical teenager's response and just shrugged acted like she couldn't care less about it. "The name's Wendy."

"I should've known." Jojo nodded to himself before leaning towards her with a smug grin, "Yours is a face that could sell burgers."

Of course it didn't take much for Wendy to realize what he was referring to. "Hey!" she cried in indignation, finally showing more vigor than a sleeping sloth.

"I see you are making new friends, Jojo." Speedwagon who had been watching the whole scene in silence made his presence known. "Though it is very unbecoming of a gentleman to tease a young lady."

"Hey, who're you calling lady?" Despite been admonishing Jojo for his remarks against her, Wendy took slight offense to the term lady.

Before Speedwagon could apologize, another man entered the scene. "What it going on here?" It was an old man, around the same age as Speedgawon, dressed in a black suit and a maroon bow tie the same color as a fez he was wearing. Aside from his outfit, the most striking thing about this man was his comically large ears and long, droopy nose. "You know the rules, not playing around when there are customers to attend."

"Grunkle Stan,look!" Mabel said pointing at Joseph. "This is Jojo, the one we were telling you about."

"Fascinating…" Stan rolled his eyes not really caring, but when his eyes turned from the large teen towards the other adult in the room, Soos didn't exactly count as one, his face lighted up in surprise. "You…"

"Good morning, Good sir."Speedwagon took off his hat and held out his right hand as a very cordial and respectful greeting. "You must be the owner of this fine establishment. My name is Robert E.O Speedwagon, please to meet you and to make your acquaintance."

"Yeah, the pleasure is mine."Stan shook the English man hand almost in awe. "Say would you mind if we could continue our conversation in my office?"

"Of course." Speedwagon nodded and proceeded to exit the gift shop and into a hallway inside the shack, and before Stan followed the man inside, he turned towards his employees and barked orders.

"Kids, mind the gift shop."He said first to the twins, "Soos you take over the tours." That made the portly man gasp, "Wendy you help him."

"But Mr. Pines…"The redhead wanted to protest, but Stan was in much of a hurry.

"Unless the shack is burning I want no interruptions!" And with that he left the others looking utterly confused.

"Geez, what's up with Grunkle Stan?"Dipper wondered out-loud. "That was weird."

"He probably recognized my Uncle's name."Joseph pointed out not at all surprised since Speedwagon always got a strong reaction out of people.

"Your Uncle's name…?" Mabel repeated trying to think of an answer, "Well, it is a pretty nice name."

Meanwhile Dipper muttered the name under his breath multiple times. "Speed…wagon? Wait! You don't mean…?" He trailed off, his jaw hanging open upon the realization.

"What is it Dipper! Tell me!" His sister grabbed him and shook him a few times to get him to spill the answer.

"Yeah dude, don't keep us in suspense."Wendy also butted in, feeling curious as to what caused Mr. Pines to assign her even more work.

Dipper in turn looked up to Joseph and asked very carefully as if he was handling glass. "Is your uncle… the owner of SPW Oil and the founder of the Speedwagon Foundation?" If he was right, then that would mean…

"Yep. The very same."

That would mean that a man worth Billions was inside the Mystery Shack.

Alone.

With Grunkle Stan.

GOD help them all.

**<** **==ToBeContinued==**

 

**『Xlivi evi qsvi wigvixw srpc Wtiihaeksr orsaw.』**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Because of the divisive politics regarding Tibet, I changed the location of their temple to Nepal.
> 
> Use the SHIZAAAAAA! Cipher.


	4. 『Decisions and Judgements』

"Dude, you must be loaded!" Wendy said what was in everyone's mind. Everyone knew the brand of SPW oil, which was the premium brand in their local gas stations, and even the most clueless of people had heard of the Speedwagon Foundation at least in passing.

"Well, Uncle Speedwagon is, not me." Joseph clarified. Sure, there was the Joestar Family money and state but that belonged to Granny Erina, not him.

"Still, what are you guys doing in Gravity Falls?" The red head asked, wondering what brought a billionaire to their little town.

"Business." Jojo answered bluntly. "And since this is a small town, I'm sure you probably know with whom my Uncle and I had lunch with."

"Oh, them." It didn't take much for Wendy to realize, he was referring to the Northwest family. They were the richest family in the whole state and every year they would hold a party where only the rich and the famous could attend. "How did that go?"

"The fact I had to sneak away is all I need to tell you." They were one of the snobbiest bunch he had the misfortune meeting. Although, he could tell that their child, Pacifica, was not as bad as her parents; at least not yet.

"That bad huh?" Wendy didn't exactly know the members of the Northwest family personally, but she had seen them whenever an important event was held in town, because they would always be front and center with the whole town cheering for them. And from what she had seen of them, they looked and acted very full of themselves; always claiming to be perfect.

"Yes, but if it weren't for them I wouldn't have met this two little kids." Joseph smiled as he petted the head of both twins with his big hands. In doing so, it really showed how big he was compared to them; it was almost comical.

Of course Mabel rejoiced in the affectionate contact while Dipper just groaned, not liking the part of being called little.

『x-x-x』

Meanwhile, inside of Stan's office, both older men sat in complete silence opposite two each other with an old desk separating each other. Despite the small space and the clutter in the room, Speewagon didn't complain, since it served its function nicely.

"I wasn't expecting to see you in person." Stan broke the silence after a heavy sight. "I felt like I was about to pass out."

"You and me both, Mr. Pines." Speedwagon also let out a tired sigh. "When I came to Gravity Falls I hadn't planned to visit you; but as you can see my charge, Joseph, had other plans in mind."

"Does he know?" Stan asked, his voice showing slight worry. "Does he know about the…?"

"No." Speewagon answered before the man before him jumped into conclusions. "He discovered about the strangeness of the town and he demanded answers. I told him some tidbits but he has no idea about IT."

"Good, good." Stan said relieved to hear that, and then he took out a bottle and two glasses from inside his desk. "You want some?"

"It isn't even noon."

"I know, however I can see there is a big "But" coming from a mile away, so I want to be prepared." Despite the improper proposition, the showman did make a very good point.

"I'll have a glass then." Or maybe more, depending on how Stan reacted to the next piece of news.

『x-x-x』

"Everyone, I see a group of people approaching the shack." Soos informed as he came back inside from one of his chores. "They'll probably want a tour and Mr. Pines hasn't come out of his office."

"So? You have done tours before." Wendy said not really getting where the repairman's worry was coming from.

"But never on the main attractions inside the shack!" He was often relegated to showing tourist the attractions on the outside, like the bottomless pit and the Outhouse of Mystery. "What if I screw up?"

"I'm sure that whatever money you manage to lose it could be covered by Stan scamming the pocket money of Mr. Moneybags in his office." Wendy shrugged not at all concerned.

"I wouldn't count on that." Joseph said in defense of his uncle. "Uncle Speedwagon deals with corporate maneuvering of TWO big and successful companies. I'm sure he could handle that old man Stan."

"You'll be surprised." Wendy answered back with both twin nodding in agreement. You could never underestimate Stan ability to charm the money away from anyone's pocket.

Still that didn't solved Soos' current dilemma. "What am I gonna do?"

"Soos, I've seen you put on Stan's fez and pretend to be him giving a tour more times that I can recall." The redhead reminded. "Just do what you've always done and you'll be fine." Seriously, it wasn't that big of a deal.

"You can do it Soos!" Mabel cheered for him. "You just gotta believe in yourself."

"Yeah! You are like the most reliable person here." Dipper also gave his support for the repairman.

"Wow, you guys really believe in me." Soos was touched by the vote of confidence. "Yes, I can do it!"Having been pumped out, he went out with a battle cry towards the group of tourists outside.

"Oh, that's not good." Jojo winced; maybe they motivated him a little too much. "You better go help him."He turned towards Wendy, "The boss said that you had to help him, after all." He finished with a grin enjoying the annoyed look she was giving him. She really wasn't looking forward to do more work.

"Fine!" She rolled her eyes and lazily went out to help Soos.

Once she was out of earshot, Joseph then looked down to the twins, specifically at Dipper. "Well, now that it is just us, then we can talk about yesterday's pending topic." After all that was the main reason for his visit. "So ask away."

Dipper cleared out his throat and spoke first. "Well, what I am most curious about is…" Only for Mabel to interrupt.

"How do you get your hair to be so pretty?"

"Mabel!"

"Sorry, bro-bro! But you gotta admit that it looks fabulous!"Joseph gave a small laugh and thanked Mabel for the compliment.

"There is no special trick, if you want to look good you just need to make the time and commit." Jojo answered her with much enthusiasm. "But I'm sure your brother wanted to know about the Ripple."

"Yes finally!" the boy exclaimed loudly, ever since the teen arrived he had been itching for answers. "Can you please tell us what The Ripple is?"

"Well, I'm not good at lengthy explanations so I think it is better if I show you, first."Joseph said before lifting a finger up. "Do you guys have a bottle of Coco-Cola?"

"We have Pitt Cola if that helps." The girl offered, pulling a can from inside one of the sleeves of her lime green sweater with yellow stripes. For what reason she had a can in her sleeve, Joseph didn't dare to ask.

"Actually it works better with a glass bottle." Joseph recalled the time he had tried the same trick with a sealed aluminum can before, and the results were…messy to say the least. "Maybe there's something else I can use…" he looked around the place to find something among the clutter of merchandize and bizarre decorations. It took him a while but he finally found the perfect thing. "That, that's perfect!" Joseph then picked up and inconspicuous potted plant that looked withered. "Now behold and be amazed at Joseph Joestar's special abilities!" He announced trying to put a little more pizzazz.

Joseph then closed his eyes and began breathing deeply, as if it was a breathing exercise to meditate or something.

"コオオオオ!"

Then, as he continued with his breathing he was slowly enveloped in a radiant golden aura.

"Whoa Shiny!" Mabel cried out marveled by the display shimmering lights. Meanwhile, Dipper put an arm in front of his face to protect his eyes from the somewhat intense light the teen was emanating.

"What is going on? What is this?"

Then miraculously, the plant slowly grew rejuvenated and little buds started to grow and bloom.

"That… shouldn't be possible…" Dipper said trying to rationalize what he was seeing, but it was hard to deny what he was seeing with his very own eyes.

Mabel on the other hand, just started fascinated by the even more incredible display.

"Yesterday we were attacked by gnomes." Joseph reminded as he stopped with his deep breathing and soon after, the light he was generating slowly got dimmer and dimmer, until it was no more. "I think we of all people should keep an open mind."

"How were you doing that?" Dipper asked, his scientific curiosity was overtaking him. "What can you do with it? What else it can you do? Where did you learn to do that? Who else knows? How…?"

"Wow, hold it right there." The English boy was slightly impressed by how many questions the kid could utter without the need to stop for air, but if he didn't stop him right there, he wouldn't be able to answer any of his questions. "One question at a time."

"Are you like Magic?" Mabel asked her own question. "Ooh! Are you a prince from another dimension, who was adopted into this world but you are still hoping to one day return home?" That was a strangely specific question.

None the less he answered it.

"No… at least not as far as I know." Just what sort of question was that? Maybe the girl was like a fan of Japanese Comics for girls, because that sounded an awful lot like the sort of plot that genre would have.

"Or maybe you are a wizard that goes to a magic school in a castle? And you can only get to the school by travelling in a magic train?"

Now that, Jojo could, tell was the premise of a popular book series. "Sorry, but no. The Ripple isn't really magic." Or maybe it was, he didn't know for sure. He could see why someone who saw it with no context whatsoever could confuse it with magic.

"Aww…" Mabel looked down disappointed. "So you are not a wizard?"

"Hey don't look so down." The teen tried to cheer her up. "I just remembered; the art of the Ripple is called 『Sendō』which translates to ' _The way of the Hermit Wizard_ ', so in a way I could be called a wizard." Though that was stretching it the meaning of the word.

After hearing that, Mabel small frown turned completely upside down. "Yay! We are friends with a Wizard, Dipper!"

"So what is exactly the 'Way of the Hermit Wizard'?" Dipper asked using his fingers as quotation marks, yet he wasn't trying to sound sarcastic or skeptical. In fact it sounded sort of mystical art practiced in some hidden city on a mountain or something.

"Well, as I've been told, Sendō is one of the most ancient martial arts ever practiced by mankind, and today very few people actually know about it and even less practices it." Joseph said recalling the stories from his Uncle Speedwagon.

"Why is that?"

"Because only one out of ten thousand has the aptitude to use the Ripple, or as it is actually called, 『Hamon』.

『Hamon』?!" Mabel couldn't help but snicker. "That sounds like something you say when ordering a sandwich."She proceeded to lower her voice to try and sound funny " **I want lots and lots of Ham-on please, and don't forget the mustard.** "

"I guess you have a point there." Joseph chuckled at her little joke before continuing. "If you aren't that lucky one then you could try all your life and never be able to produce Hamon." And even then, but a rare few had the talent or the fortitude to become proficient enough to be considered masters of the art.

"So that means you can't teach us?" Mabel said sounding disappointed once more. She so wanted to learn how to shine and sparkle as Jojo did.

"Even if you could use it…" Jojo trailed off a little bit, scratching the back of his head. "I'm no master or even a good teacher…" Heck, he didn't even have any sort of training. All he knew he could do with Hamon he had to figure it out by himself, and there wasn't exactly much to brag about. "I am a very rare case because I sort of always been able to use it even without me realizing what it was."

"So what exactly is the Ripple?" Dipper asked once more, not exactly getting what it was. "You said it wasn't magic. So what is it? Some kind of energy? You said it is practiced as a martial art, does that mean it is something like "chi"? If so then…"

"Dipper you are rambling again." Mabel interrupted him before he could run out his mouth. Not that she found that weird, because whenever something interesting happened he always went all obsessively nerdy about it.

"Sorry," The boy apologized before let out a small cough. "Please continue."

"Well, as I understand it, Hamon is Energy that comes from breathing. I don't know how but with proper breathing the body generates ripples and those ripples carry energy and that creates Hamon."

"That doesn't really clear out my doubts…" The young boy still had many queries and Joseph lack of proper explanations was bothering him. Then another unanswered question from the Journal came to his mind. "How is the Ripple useful against the undead?"

"Ah! Now that is because the Ripples created by Hamon Energy are the same as the waves of sunlight."

"Like Solar radiation?" Dipper wondered. "Is it magnetic radiation of infrared, visible and Ultraviolet light?" It all sounded fantastical but the scientific side of his brain was coming up with reasons why it shouldn't be technically possible.

Jojo kept staring at Dipper as the boy kept on rambling about the possible science behind it all, things that the teen had no idea about. "You know what? I take it back, it is Magic." That way it was easier to understand and they didn't have to worry about getting into the specifics of how it all works because frankly Jojo had no a bloody clue.

"So in other words..." Mabel cut in rubbing her chin in deep thought. "You are saying that you breathe and then use the power of the sun?" She put it in the simplest words possible.

"Yes." Jojo nodded grateful that the girl managed to get it without much trouble. "And to answer Dipper's question, since undead creatures like Vampires are weak to the sun they are weak to Hamon too."

By connecting the bits and pieces of information that Jojo provided them, Dipper realized something. "So you are saying that a martial art was developed using the Ripple to fight Vampires and other monsters since ancient times?"

"I don't really know…" Jojo just shrugged, he never really thought that deeply about Hamon before. "I don't know if ancient civilizations have been fighting against Vampires for that long, but I as I showed with the plant Hamon isn't just for punching monsters." Although that was the only thing Joseph had used it for. That is if you replace "monsters" with the words "punks and people that deserved it."

"I guess…" Dipper then tried to think of another thing to ask. "You said that only very few people know about the Ripple. So does that mean the Author of the Journal was a practitioner of the art?"

Joseph got to handed to the little guy, he was far more perceptive and quick on the uptake than he initially gave him credit for. "It is a possibility. Or he could've known someone else who was." The English boy was treading a very thin line. He promised the boy answers, but he also didn't want to divulge the secrets of his Uncle Speedwagon.

"Someone else who used the Ripple…?" Dipper pondered out-loud before looking at Joseph very seriously. "Kinda like you."

Damn, the kid didn't waste time with roundabouts and jumped directly with the finger pointing. Jojo didn't know if to call him bold or foolish; maybe a little bit of both. "Are you saying something?" the teen played coy. "The next thing you'll say is: «Do you know who the Author is, Joseph?» right?

"Do you know who the Author is, Joseph?" Dipper repeated by the letter. "Huh!?"Making Jojo reconsider that the boy was being more foolish than bold. "How did you…?"

"Let me answer your previous question with a series of questions." Joseph continued with a playful smirk.

"1) How old is that journal?

2) Do you remember how old I am?

3) If I knew the author, why would I'd been so interested in the journal the day before?

4) Were those enough to answer your question or do you need more?"

Sure it was callous to come down so hard on the poor kid like this, but in Joseph's defense, he thought this would be a lesson Dipper needed; the smarter you are then the bigger is the embarrassment for getting something wrong.

Meanwhile, Mabel just giggled at Dipper's embarrassed look on his face; thinking he would need medical attention for that 3rd degree burn from Jojo.

Despite the embarrassment, Dipper quickly recovered and pointed something fishy about Joseph's 3rd point. "Ok then if that is the case, then why you reacted so strongly about this?" Dipper then pulled out the journal and showed the sketched picture of the strange face. "What was that all about?"

Dipper smiled hoping to enjoy the tall teen's reaction to his 'presenting of the evidence", but instead he ended up frowning when Joseph's whole demeanor changed from amusement to downright somber.

And he wasn't the only one who noticed. "Jojo? What's wrong?" The sudden change of mood brought the whole atmosphere down.

Joseph remained deadly silent, the stardust in his eyes completely gone. After what felt like an eternity, Jojo finally spoke up very solemnly. "If I told you… what would you do?"

"What do you mean?" Dipper asked confused.

"What would you do with that information?" He inquired again with the same tone of voice.

"I don't know…" How could he even answer to a question like that if he had no idea what the picture meant.

"What if I told you it is a powerful relic, a very dangerous one." His expression remained like stone. "What would you do?"

"Jojo, you're scaring me…" Mabel said trembling at how cold he was acting.

"What would you do?"

"I don't know!" The boy repeated, "Exactly how dangerous?"

"Enough for me to tell you to burn that journal; to go back to your home, to never come back to Gravity Falls and to forget everything about this place." Joseph said deadly serious.

"Burn the journal?!" Dipper was scandalized. The Journal was not only evidence about the existence of the supernatural but the life's work of someone who studied it with fervor.

"What would you do?"

"If it is that dangerous, then we can't let whatever this thing is into the wrong hands."

"Are you saying your hands are the correct ones?" Joseph questioned his voiced hardening a bit, making his sound much eerie.

"Yes. I mean no! I mean…" the boy stopped to think hard on his answer. "We should try and get rid of it."

"So you'll seek it to destroy it…" Joseph reworded the answer, gaining a nod of confirmation from Dipper. "Then, to do so would you risk your own life? What about the life of your sister? Would you do that?"

That made Dipper's mouth closed into a frown. He couldn't do that. He could never, ever, consciously put the life of Mabel on the line for anything. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if she was hurt or worse because of him.

Dipper was about to say no, but then he felt his hand being grabbed and held by another. "Mabel?"

"Dipper I know what you are thinking…" She said looking at him in the eye. "Because I also thought the same as you." And it wasn't any sort of twin related power that caused it. "But think about it. If it is dangerous enough for us to run away, then that means that sooner or later it could still find us no matter where we go." It was a very sobering thought. "If we do that, then other people will be put in danger, wouldn't it?"

"But Mabel! I… I don't want to lose you!"

"Then don't!" Mabel said with determination. "Whatever you decide to do we'll do it together, watching each other's backs. So what do you say bro-bro?"

"Mabel…" That really moved him and it motivate him enough to try and overcome any obstacles. "Yes, always together!"

"So that is what you'll do, huh?" Joseph said looking down on the touching moment not as cold as before. "I have no other choice then…"

At the sound of those words, the twins flinched backwards afraid of what the tall teen would do.

"I guess that means I'll stay in Gravity Falls to look after you guys." Jojo finished with a small smile, doing complete turnaround from his scary looks from before. This only confused the heck out of the twins.

"Huh?!" That was their eloquent response.

"Let me explain…" The teen scratched the back of his head looking apologetic. "I wanted to see inside of your hearts."

Again, "Huh?!"

"Once you get a glimpse into Supernatural it will slowly wrap itself around you and you'll never escape it." Jojo remembered his uncle's words. "After the events of yesterday that will become truth the more time you spend in this town."

"You were testing us." Dipper finally understood. "You were trying to see if we would try and run away or see if we would stand strong and not give in to fear."

"Bullseye!" Joseph smiled as he formed a pistol with his hand. "If you'd chosen to run away I wouldn't have thought less of you, however I would've had to take that journal from you and leave. But since you decided to act all brave, you will go down the rabbit hole, with me tagging along for the ride." Which now would be a pain in the neck for him from now on.

"What do you mean?"

"By keeping the Journal you are guaranteed to be put in all sorts of situations, each time more dangerous than before." He didn't believe in fate the same way his uncle did, but it would be naïve to believe that they weren't inviting trouble to come and slap them in the face. "Knowing that you two will just keep on getting into trouble, would make me feel bad for leaving you all on your own to deal with whatever sort of bizarre thing this place is going to throw at you."

"So you'll stay in Gravity Falls to protect us?" Dipper wanted to act up and say that they didn't need protection, but if what he was saying came true and things only become more dangerous as time goes on; in that case it would be a relief to know there was someone watching their backs. "That means a lot."

"It would be great to have you with us this summer!" Mabel said excitedly. Another friend meant extra fun!

"Yeah well, that's fine but…" Jojo sighed and crossed his arms in front of him disgruntled. "Now I have a big problem."

"What is it?"

"How do I convince Uncle Speedwagon to let me stay for the summer?" He dropped his head comically with no clues whatsoever.

[x-x-x]

After talking for a while exchanging ideas. Speedwagon and Grunkle Stan family stepped out of the latter's office and into the gift shop where Jojo and the twins were still at.

"Ah Jojo I hope that you've enjoyed meeting with your friends." The oil business man said as to indirectly hint that it was time to leave.

"Uncle Speedwagon. I've decided to stay in Gravity Falls" Joseph said sounding very sure of his decision.

Having suspected that the boy would say something like that, ever since this morning; Speedwagon didn't hold back and went for his more powerful counterargument. "What about your grandmother Erina?" Again he hated to use the boy's only living relative against him, but he did so to try and protect him like he promised Erina he would.

"Just tell her that she was right." Jojo answered unyielding from his decision. "Tell her that the change of scenery and the fresh air was something I really needed and that I wanted to stay."

"You know she'll be worrying about you."Speedwagon pressed on hoping to chip away his strong resolve.

"She doesn't have to worry about me because…" Jojo then put his hands on top of both Dipper's and Mabel's heads. "I managed to make some good friends."

Mabel awed in response, thinking it was very endearing, while Dipper thought it sounded somewhat melodramatic and cheesy.

"I see…" Speedwagon said as he closed his eyes as a sign of deep thought and deliberation. Jojo was being stubborn and when he got like that there was no one but Erina to convince the boy otherwise, and since that failed, that meant that Joseph was staying for good.

' _Maybe…this is fate._ ' It couldn't be coincidence that Jojo ended up meeting and befriending the grand-niblings of Stan Pines of all people. Perhaps this was how it was meant to be.

"Okay then, if this is what you want. I accept your decision to stay." Even so, there was still one bit of an issue. "Still there is the matter of how exactly are you going to afford to stay?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Jojo asked confused. "What do you mean by afford?"

"Just because I accept your decision, it doesn't mean I fully support it." The Oiling Tycoon said very serious. "Since this was your decision, it is your responsibility to go at it yourself without my financially depending on me."

"Hey, stop messing around with me Uncle Speedwagon." Jojo was beginning to sweat. "You can't just leave me here helpless."

"Jojo! It was your decision to stay and you have to take responsibility and stand by it like a man." Now it was the old man's turn to not back down.

"But…"

"Do not think ill of me, this will help you grow as a man." Speedwagon continued. "The harsh winds of the Arctic Ocean gave birth to the mighty Vikings." He recalled that memorable proverb from Baron Zeppeli from many years ago.

"Huh?!"

"In other words, Challenges creates Opportunities." Speedwagon ended up explaining seeing as Jojo had a look of utter confusion.

"Oh! That's a good one." Stan commented. "Mind it if I put it on a T-shirt or something?" He was delighted when his fellow business man just shrugged not opposing it.

"Grunkle Stan? Couldn't Jojo stay with us?" Mabel asked hopefully wanting to help the teen that saved her and wanted to keep on helping them.

"No way! I barely have enough space for the two of you!" Stan refused without hesitation. "I can't house an overgrown teen, even if he promised to work for free for me."

"How about you let him just work at the Shack?" Dipper offered. "And pay him enough so he can afford a place?" Of course his suggestion only elicited laughter from his cheapskate of a Grunkle.

Naturally the full blown laughter was enough to anger Joseph who stood up and faced up to the fez wearing man. "Who do you think you are laughing at, Old man? I bet you I can bring in more money than you can."

This in turn made Stan stop his laughter. "Oh! You sure about that? I might take you up for it, but I realize you have nothing I want."

"As sure as your face is wrinkly and old!" In retrospect, it wasn't a good idea calling the man you wanted to hire you old and ugly, but Stan laugh and dismissal really grinded his gears. "I bet I can get enough money out of one customer to justify hiring me on the spot. If I lose then I'll leave Gravity Falls and have Uncle Speedgawon write you up a check with six digits, not including cents.

"Oi Jojo!" Speedwagon protested because his charge was gambling with money that wasn't his.

"Don't you worry Speedwagon, I got this in the bag!" He reassured fully confident in his abilities.

"A high roller, huh? I like that." Stan was impressed by the teen's guts. "I accept your bet." Being impressed didn't mean that he wasn't going let the opportunity to make some big money slip by. "From the next batch of customers, you'll have to get enough money to impress me from a customer of my choosing."

"You are on!" And with a firm handshake the deal was sealed.

Soon after, a group of tourists led by Soos with the help of Wendy, finished their tour and made a stop at the Gift Shop. Stan looked around for someone that looked like a cheapskate or had no much disposable income to take advantage of. Then his eyes fell upon the perfect individual.

"Hey, look over there!" Stan pointed at the corner of the shop. "Try and get enough money from that customer!" He was pointing at a teenage girl that had her face plastered on her cell phone, looking completely disinterested and ignoring everything around her. "Think you can handle her?"

"You bet." Jojo said unshakable confidence as he undid his jacket and proceeded to walk towards the girl while the rest of the staff and Speedwagon looked on interested.

Stan was confident that the overgrown teen would fail. Even he, with his 30 year old career of ripping off and charming the money out of people's pockets, barely could work with one of the worst type of costumers ever: the Disinterested Teenager. And the Difficulty doubled if said teenager was a girl.

Easiest big money ever!

"You can do it Jojo!" Mabel cheered him on, hoping that he could do it so he gets to stay. In response Jojo turned around and give her a thumps up, before resuming with his "Job Examination".

"Nothing interesting to see, I'm I right?" Joseph said as his opening line which only resulted in a shrug and a non-committal 'whatever.' "Yes, this place is a bore compared to the places you can visit back in London."He continued by slipping from his American accent into his British one, which seemed to caught the girl's attention.

"Are you from Britain?" The girl finally talked and moved her eyes away from her phone only for them to fall upon the muscular physique of the tall European boy. "Oh!"

"Yes, but I had to come all the way here because of the photo shoot."

"Photo shoot?" The girl looked intrigued. "As in…modeling?"

"Yes, I'm working in my portfolio for both summer and autumn seasons." Jojo said while posing. "I hope to hit the cover and the centerfold of Spur Magazine." At the mention of the top selling fashion magazine, the girl was now more interested in him, and her cell phone now completely ignored.

"Can… can I take a selfie with you?" She asked hopefully. Then she could post it online and brag how she met an European Model in the most unlikely of places!

"Sorry, but no can do." Joseph said feigning being apologetic. "Because I'm in the middle of work, I'm not allowed to take pictures with others. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless you hire me of course!" He announced with a smile. "And since you are very cute, I'll make you a special discount!" Hook, line and sinker! "For $5 you can take a picture of me. For $10 a picture of you and I; for $20 I will hold hands with you; $50 I let you embrace me; $75 for me to kiss you; and for $100 I'll let you brag about me with your friends and those who told you your Summer break was gonna suck and say that I was the best summer romance you ever had so far."

No sooner as he said that, the girl handed him a $50 dollar bill. "Wait for me while I get some more money!" then she bolted looking for one of her parents. "Mom! Dad! I need some money!"

Dusting off his hands, Joseph walked back towards showing off the money he had earned towards Stan with a smirk on his face. "So? Impressed?"He asked slipping out of his British accent.

"Heh! I could've gotten more." The showman boasted with no one really believing him. "But it wasn't a total disaster all things considered. You got lucky, Joe."

"Joseph."

"Whatever." The man rolled his eyes. "I guess the job is yours." He hated not been able to get a big check from the Oil Tycoon, but now that he had the Teen working for him, he could finally tap in that previously thought dry well that was the Female Teenage demographic.

"Believe me that is the closest to a compliment you're gonna get." Dipper whispered to the teen. "Congrats by the way." The boy was impressed by the incredible accomplishment.

"Yay! Jojo is going to stay!"But once again, her celebration was premature.

"There still is the issue of where you're gonna stay though." Speedwagon reiterated, bringing Jojo's mood down a bit.

"Don't remind me." Honestly he hadn't expected his uncle to be so callous about his decision to stay.

"If you don't have a place to stay, you could stay at my house." Soos offered after overhearing the teen's problem. "I'm sure abuelita wouldn't mind."

"Abuelita?"

"I'm sure it will be fun, dude."

"Well, it is better than nothing." Jojo reasoned, "But only for a few days." He turned his gaze towards Speedgawon who nodded, finding the compromise acceptable.

"Great so it is settled! Jojo is staying in Gravity Falls!" Mabel cheered and this time the celebration wasn't cut short.

This was the beginning of a new chapter.

**く** **==ToBeContinued==**

『Gtym tqijw rjs pstb fgtzy jfhm tymjw'x uqnlmyx. 』

『Fgzjqnyf nx xufsnxm ktw Lwfssd.』


	5. 『Memories for the Scrapbook 』

Joseph waked up for the day feeling somewhat restless. It was hard to accustomed oneself to sleep in a sofa-turned-bed when he had slept in nice comfy beds all of his life. Not that he wasn't grateful to Soos for letting crash in the house of his Abuelita, it was far better than sleeping outside like a hobo, the only thing he was saying was that it had been a difficult transition.

Speaking of Abuelita…, Soos' grandmother had received him with open arms (though he noticed it was only after saying that he did have a paying job) and welcoming him to stay as long as liked. She reminded Joseph of his own grandmother Erina, yet at the same time he noticed that the two of them were almost the polar opposites of each other.

Whatever the case might be, Joseph tried to be as respectful with Abuelita as he did his own grandmother.

After washing up and putting on some clothes, Joseph found the old woman working hard to prepare breakfast. "Good morning, abuelita." When he first met her, he tried to refer to her as Mrs. Ramirez but she insisted for him to call her the same as Soos did. Being a guest on her home he did nothing but comply.

"Oh, señor Joestar, good morning." But the same didn't hold truth both ways. Joseph insisted the old woman to not be so formal with him and call him Jojo, but Abuelita refused to yield. "Let me prepare you some coffee."She had been extra accommodating towards him after Soos babbled out that he was a rich kid from the England who had been living in New York for some time now.

Abuelita wanted to treat him like he was some sort of great lord or something, which Joseph was vehemently against. She finally backed down when he told her that he was trying to live a summer without the commodities of his regular lifestyle and learn from the experience, akin to the story of the Prince and the Pauper except without the whole switcheroo.

That managed to convince her to tone it down with the whole royal treatment, yet she remained very formal when addressing him, and by that point Joseph had given up. So he took it with stride and didn't let it bother him.

After breakfast was served, Soos finally arrived to the table. "Good Morning, dude! Abuelita!" the man greeted cheerfully as he took his seat.

"Good morning, mijo!"

"Good morning, Soos!"

Joseph also got to know more about Soos thanks to his stay. The English teen had to admit that the portly man was a lot different than he initially believed; Soos was… , a man with a child like personality, but he wasn't annoying nor incompetent. In fact, he was the total opposite. His easy-going personality and wholesome optimism as almost everything made it difficult for someone to really hate him, and he was a heck of a handy-man if what half the stuff Joseph had seen him repair was any indication.

That and he was very good a video-games, making him a formidable opponent that was fun to play with.

"Are you ready for today, Jojo?" Soos asked amicably in between bites of his breakfast. "Today's is going to be fun!"

"Not to discourage you or anything, but spending the whole day working at the shack with Stan as a taskmaster isn't my definition of fun." That man really squeezed down to the last cent out of Joseph's time and effort.

In reality, since Joseph was not really someone who was used to "working hard" at stuff, especially in regards to a job he felt that Stan was exploiting him. He disliked Stan because of it, but if the positions were reversed he would totally do the same as the old showman.

Joseph's job at the shack wasn't exactly complicated. Mostly he was used as a side business while also being an "attraction" to appeal and lure in the Teenage Female Demographic.

He remembered how that conversation went and how the rest of the day proceeded.

* * *

『 _Flashback_ 』

"You want me to do what?!"

"I told you, I want you to wash visitors' cars." Stan repeated, much to Joseph's horror. "I'm branching out and with this extra service I can charge visitors even more!" It was genius really, most tourists forgo to washing their cars when traveling on the road, so when they arrive to the shack with their dirty cars, they would not be able to say no for a car washing service.

"Just so you know, I've never washed a car before." Joseph hoped that this would discourage Stan from this.

"People who never went to school can do this job, I'm sure you can figure it out." Stan said not backing out. Then a devious smirk appeared in his old wrinkly face. "But since I'm a generous man, I'll lend you my car for you to practice on for your new job!"

"Wow, you are very generous…" Jojo responded, sarcasm oozing from every word.

"I know, right!" But Stan either ignored it completely or he just plain didn't notice. "Oh, by the way, don't forget to put on your uniform."

"Uniform?"

『x-x-x』

"Ok, this is demeaning." Joseph made his opinion known as he looked down as his uniform.

He was wearing red short swim shorts and a white "A-shirt" or Tank-top, that was a size too small for him, making his muscles pop out, so to speak; and the word's Mystery Shack written on the front and the back.

And the worst part is that he had to pay Stan for the uniform. The cheap bastard!

"Well, the life of a prostitute usually is." Wendy mocked from her usual place behind the counter of the gift shop. "Especially with Stan as your pimp."

"I don't follow, care to explain." Joseph crossed his arms in front of him looking at the redhead with narrowed eyes.

"What is to explain?" Wendy couldn't help but laugh. "Not only did he pretty you up and put you in a revealing get-up you had to pay yourself, now he will parade you around like a piece of meat and sell your services for hours on end and to cash on your hard work by paying you a miserable amount for the services you provided. In other words: prostitute."

Joseph lifted one finger to try and object and maybe counter Wendy's statement, but he realize that she was pretty spot on. Despite that, he wasn't going to stay silent. "Ok, first of all I think the correct term is Escort…"

"Not if you end up dying during work hours."Wendy interrupted, "Then you are just a prostitute."

"Like I was saying…" Joseph continued on, "and second of all, I'm not a piece of meat, I am eye candy." He admitted. "But I can see why you'll be confused: I am a beefcake!" He then posed showing off his not so bad looking physique. "Can't blame ya for wanting me all for yourself, though."

"Yeah, you wish!" Wendy rolled her eyes and turned back to his magazine. "Not even in your dreams."

"Oh believe me, if you were on my dreams I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming in terror."

Ever since he had met Wendy and was kind of a jerk towards her, this back and forward of mocking and teasing became their thing. So far Joseph found it really fun been able to have someone who would talk back to him. It was both challenging and enjoyable.

『x-x-x』

"OH MY GOD!" Joseph shouted over dramatically.

"Yo dude, what's up?" Soos was the first to arrive at the scene and looked on as Jojo stepped away from a car he was suppose to be washing.

"There's blood under the car!" He was no stranger to blood, heck, when he beat up punks in New York, some of their blood would spill on him. Regardless, finding strange blood was still a shocking thing to happen to anyone.

"I think I know what it is, Jo!" Soos said strangely calm despite the situation they were currently in. After walking up the car and kneeling down to get a better look, the handyman confirmed his suspicions. "Yep, it is road-kill."

"Road-Kill?!"

"Yep, pretty common when driving through highways and whatnot." He explained all to blasé it was disturbing for Jojo.

"What do we do know?" The teen was really at loss as to what to do in these types of situations.

"I'll get a trash bag, a shovel and a scraper." Soos informed the teen before going to retrieve said objects.

Jojo's respect for Soos rose up after seeing him deal with the carcass. How long had he done these types of nasty, grizzly jobs to not be the little bit nauseous? Despite his child-like behavior the man was a professional at his job.

『x-x-x』

"Thank god, that's the last one." Joseph wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand after he was done washing the last visitor's car. Since he had never actually had a job before, especially one that was physically demanding, he felt himself more tired and sweaty than when he did exercise.

He was sweating so much that his soaked shirt was really becoming a bother.

"I better take it off." Without thinking it twice, Joseph pulled off his wet shirt exposing his bare chest to the whole world to witness; except there wasn't anyone around to see.

Or so he thought…

*Click*

"Uh? What was that?" Startled by the strange sound, the bare-chested teen looked around for the culprit, and the culprit was none other than a small girl with a Polaroid camera of all things.

"Mabel? What are you doing?"

"It's for the scrapbook!" The girl said as she waved the picture she had taken. "I do it so I can always look back remember the fun memories of the summer." She then pasted the picture inside a book and put decorations and sparkles around it. "I call this: Jojo's first day at the job!"

"That's kinda nice, actually." It was the sort of thing kids didn't do as often these days, since it was all about the internet and posting pictures online in social media. "Kinda reminds me of my Granny Erina." She too had scrapbooks filled with photos about her youth, when she had been dating his Grandfather Jonathan in her teens. But after that the death of her husband, there were no more photos or scrapbooks.

"Granny…?" Mabel repeated sounding less upbeat, and Joseph realized the reason why.

"No, I'm not telling you act like a granny or anything." He quickly corrected. "I mean that I find it really endearing, because I love my Granny very much." Admitting that out-loud was really uncool, but it was a small price in order to cheer the girl up and not discourage her by insulting her indirectly. Thankfully, his words were enough to turn her back to her cheerful self. "So keep on taking pictures!"

"Thanks, Jojo!" Mabel then walked up towards him and asked, "Can I take a picture with the two of us?" Joseph nodded, seeing no problem with that.

"Of course, just make sure to capture my good side." He winked before kneeled down to her level so she could take a picture.

"Oh, Jojo! All your sides are great." The two of them laughed as the picture was taken.

Mabel waved the pictured to reveal it and when the image appeared, she noticed something on Joseph's shoulder. "Jojo! Do you have a tattoo?" She showed and point at the picture. "It looks like a star."

"Oh, that's not a tattoo. It's a birthmark." He turned his back to her to show her. "Apparently all members of the Joestar lineage are born with the same birthmark on our shoulder."

"A star-shaped family birthmark? That is so cute!" Or better yey, why not call it a cutie mark.

"I was expecting cool, but I accept your compliment!"

『x-x-x』

"Can I ask you a question, Joseph?" Dipper asked looking at Joseph who was sitting inside the gift shop looking tired.

"Fire away, little buddy!" Joseph was trying to recover from his tiring day while waiting for Soos to finish so they could both head to his house.

"How come you are so tired?" He asked, and when he got a curious look from Joseph he quickly elaborated. "I mean, for a guy with the muscles you have, I thought that maybe you exercised and work your body harder than the job of washing cars, you know…"

"I'll let you in a little secret, Dipper." The teen answered sounding tired too. "I do exercise but never to the extent that would explain these muscles. In fact I believe I look like this because of genetics."

"Genetics?"

"Yes, I mean, my grandfather was built like a brick wall and so did my father. So by that logic…"He trailed off, thinking he made his point clear enough.

"But that's not how genetics works." The ever so smart boy pointed out.

"I also inherited the ability to create energy from the Ripples caused by my breathing. I think the conventions of what is considered normal do not apply to me." Which meant he was either very special or a freak of nature; or maybe a little bit of both.

"Speaking of the Ripple…" Dipper changed the subject accepting Joseph's answers for now, "Didn't you say that the Ripple Energy was used not only for fighting but also for medical treatments ?"

"Yeah, so?" The teen didn't know where the boy was going with this.

"So, couldn't you use that breathing technique of yours and used the Ripple Energy to sooth your soreness?" After he suggested this, Joseph remained deathly quiet for a few seconds with an expression that showed that his mind was totally blown!

"コオオオオ!" Jojo used his Hamon breathing technique and started glowing yellow. After a whole minute of this, Jojo finally let the Energy dissipate and the light he shone dimmed completely.

"Dipper…" He said with a stone cold expression.

"Yes…?"

"You are my goddamn Hero." He then grabbed the boy and placed him in a playful hold. "I owe you a big one!"

"N-No p-problem…" He struggled to even say. "C-Could you please let me breathe again."

* * *

『Back to the Present』

Sure it had being a mixed bag of emotions and experiences. But honestly he desperately needed a day off. "I just want a nice relaxing day."

"That's perfect! Because today is Opening Day of Fishing Season!" Soos announced excitedly. "Everyone in town will be there. So no work today."

"No work today?! Are you serious?" Jojo could not believe those beautiful words coming out of Soos' mouth, "Does that mean we'll have the entire day to rest while Stan spends the day fishing?"

"Even better! We are going fishing too!"

"What…?" He could almost hear the sound of his me-day breaking apart into pieces and blown away by the wind.

"It will be awesome! We can even catch out own dinner for tonight!" The handyman was really excited by the prospect of spending the day fishing, a sentiment that the Joestar didn't fully shared.

"I don't know Soos, I've never gone fishing before." The only time he had been on a "boat" was when Speedagown and Granny Erina were invited to a party on a yacht.

"You'll like it, it is great!" He reassured with his ever present optimism. "Besides, fishing is super easy and very relaxing."

"If you say so…" Jojo wasn't entirely convinced, but apparently this was something the handyman really wanted to do, and he owed him one for helping him deal with the road kill on his first day. "So what? We just drive to the lake and rent a boat or something?" He really wasn't sure what the exact procedure for going fishing really was.

"No dude! I got something better!"Soos said sounding giddy. "We will take the S.S. Cool Dude and put it in the lake."

"Wait! You have your own boat?!" Despite living with the guy for some days now, Soos always found a way to surprise Jojo.

**<** **==ToBeContinued==**

『Oz cgy g xgiiuut atjkxtkgzn znk igx.』

『Znk voizaxk ul Pupu zuvrkyy cgy nkx uhpkizobk grr grutm.』

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be the chapter about the Gobblewonker, but I decided to instead move that to the next chapter and focus on little moments between Joseph and the members of the Mystery Shack. I hope you like it.
> 
> And please leave a comment or a review. I'd love to hear what you guys think or want from this story.
> 
> Also If you love Jojo, please check out "Iggy's Bizarre Adventures" because Iggy really needs more love.


	6. 『A Bizarre Fishing Experience 』

Joseph decided to take on Soos' offer to go fishing with him, and now he was helping him hook up the boat to his truck so they could move it into the lake.

"So not only do you have your own boat, you made it yourself?" If he hadn't already been impressed by Soos' repair abilities before, then this tidbit cemented it firmly in Joseph's mind.

"I didn't make it from scratch." Soos explained. "I just bought an old broken down ship and I spent an entire summer working on it." He said so as if it wasn't that big of an accomplishment.

"Is there anything you can't build?" Honestly it wouldn't surprise him he with enough money and materials the guy could build his own bloody spaceship.

"Well, I've never being able to make my armor look exactly like I want it for my Foam & Cardboard Legitimate Outdoor Role Play events." He admitted with a faraway look as if it was a constant struggle which was nothing short of a divine cause.

"Okay…" Joseph really had no idea how to respond to that. "So, there are a lot of people picking up their boats, huh?" He decided to change topics, noticing how many people in town were coming to the storage place.

"Yep, fishing season is pretty popular, especially for the big catch competition." Every summer, a fishing contest was held and the 1st prize always received a huge money prize.

"Heeeeh! That's pretty neat actually." It seemed that the town had interesting ways to make life more lively and exciting. "So? Do you know much about fishing?"

"As any other guy around." The handy man shrugged. "I just do it for fun and to catch something for Abuelita to cook." There wasn't anything beyond that. Once he was done, hooking up the boat to his truck, Soos commanded with excitement, "Come on dude, TO THE LAKE!"

"Aye, aye, Captian."

**< ==HoursLater== **

"So? Has anything picked yet?" The English teen asked for the nth time, looking very bored. "For being the first day of Fishing Season, there is a surprising lack of fish."

"Maybe the fish bait isn't as fresh as that vendor said."Soos wondered out-loud. "Maybe…"

"Dude, do not lick the Fish bait." He had noticed that the handyman had been eying it the whole time since they arrived to the lake. "It's a terrible idea." That and it would be too nasty to look at.

"Maybe we have to be more patient."

"Ugh…" So far, coming along was a big mistake. Even more tragic was that he had picked a great outfit for the day and now it was going to waste. He was wearing a tight red and white stripes shirt, black pants and fishing boots.

Joseph sighed in boredom and sat down. Maybe he could get some Z's while he waited for something to pick. But when he was readying to fall into the realm of sleep, shouts coming from shore prevented him from napping.

"What's up with all that noise?" Seriously, even he knew that such ruckus was scaring the fish away.

"I don't know dude, we better check it out." Soos turned the boat around and sailed back to the shore. Once on the small wooden dock, the two unlucky fishermen saw that the Pines Family also came to the Opening and they were chanting about a monster hunt.

"Yo dudes, saying somethin' about a monster hunt?" Soos asked as he pulled over towards them.

"Soos!" Both twins cried out surprised to see the handyman.

"Yo!" Joseph also greeted as he stood up from the boat's deck.

"Jojo! You came fishing as well?"

"Yeah, but so far we must have had terrible luck, because we haven't fished anything since we got here." Meaning, he wasted hours of his life doing next to nothing. "So what is this about a Monster Hunt?"

"Dude, you could totally use my boat for your hunt. It's got a steering wheel, chairs; normal boat stuff." Soos offered without waiting for an explanation. Probably the idea of going on a hunting quest was exhilarating compared to the morning they just had.

"All right, all right, let's think this through." Stan intervened. "Ya kids could go waste your time on some epic monster-finding adventure, _or_ you could spend the day learning how to tie knots and skewer worms with your Great Uncle Stan!"

When he put it like that, the decision that the twins would take was obvious.

"Wow, before anyone goes anywhere, I think it is best if we go get something to drink. I'm thirsty." Joseph proposed as he hopped out of Soos' boat. "Hey Dipper, come with me would ya?"

"Okay…" Both boys walked away from the wooden dock and went directly to the boat-renting shack. Once they were far enough, Joseph kneeled down to Dipper's level and say. "Ok, so tell me for real. What is this idea of a Monster Hunt?"

Dipper then told him about what the old crazy guy said about a monster living in the lake, and also about the monster photo contest ad and how the prize was 1000 dollars for the winner.

"So you want to put you and your sister lives at risk for money?" Joseph summed up perfectly. It wasn't exactly the worst reason to do things but it also wasn't the best either.

"When you put it like that…" Dipper scratched the back of his head feeling self-conscious about his not-so-thought-out decision.

"Look Dipper, I don't want to tell you what you should or shouldn't do." Honestly he was still too young to be acting like a worrywart. "But what I will tell you is this: check the journal and see what it says about the monster in the lake." Maybe there was a way to attract him without angering him or whatnot.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" Dipper face palmed for the oversight and then produced the red book from inside his vest. "I don't see anything about a monster in the lake." He finally said after skimming through all the pages.

"So if the monster you are looking for isn't in your monster encyclopedia… what do you think that means?" Jospeh pointed out.

"That the monster… probably doesn't exist." Dipper sighed looking very discouraged. "What a shame…"

Joseph looked at the sorry looking boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you still want to go to your monster hunt, you are free to do so. Maybe the Author never got the chance to investigate the monster." Though the possibility of that being the explanation was very low specially with how detailed and well researched some of the entries were. "And if in the end it doesn't actually exist, I'm sure there are other things you could find in that island that could get you that prize."

"You think so?" Dipper looked up his enthusiasm returning twofold.

"I know so! You have your own monster book for goodness sake. You can win that contest no problem!"

"Thanks Joseph!"

"No problem, Dip."

『x-x-x』

"Yo, sorry for taking so long!" Joseph waved at the group who were waiting at the small dock. "Besides my drinks, we also bought some sunscreen for you guys." Dipper told him how Stan pull this trip to the lake as a surprise and because of that, forgot to bring appropriate sunscreen for the twins.

"We also bought these!" Dipper showed off a bag filled with disposable cameras, to prevent any sort of "accident" that caused him to not be able to take a picture of whatever monster they might find. Of course, Jojo also got one for himself, just in case.

"Great idea. You can take picture so you can treasure your memories of your Grunkle Stan." The old man said laughing as he prepared the not-so-safe boat called The Stan o' War.

"But Grunkle Stan…!" The twins desperately tried to convince Stan to allow them to go in their monster hunt, but old man was being very adamant in not letting them go.

Seeing that no side was willing to relent, Joseph got an idea, but first he leaned towards Soos and whispered in his ear. "Soos, take care of the kids. If anything goes wrong come back immediately, ok?"

"You can count on my, Jojo." He saluted him not unlike a soldier accepting an important mission.

Jojo then walked towards Stan's boat and loudly proclaimed. "I don't know Stan, your boat doesn't look safe."

"What? The Stan o' War is perfectly safe!" Stan took offense at the teen's words because insulting a man's ship was akin to insulting one's mother. And that was what Joseph was looking for.

"Let's prove that claim." The he jumped unto the ship making it violently rock back and forward.

"What are you doing?!" Stan yelled holding himself very tightly in the boat, not wanting to fall overboard. "Are you insane?!"

"No, I'm a distraction."

"Huh?! What are you…" But when he recovered his bearings, he realized that the kids were sailing away on Soos boat.

"Hey! Wait a second!" But his pleads didn't quite reached them. "Ingrates!"

"Come on, Stan! You still have me." The teen said cheekily making Stan gruff.

"I prefer the company of a box of creepy fishing lures over you." Speaking of the box of creepy lures; they were attracting a whole of lot of buzzing flies thanks to the strange smell emanating from them. "Ugh."

"Glad to keep you company too." Joseph rolled his eyes and seat down on the boat to keep grumpy Grunkle Stan company. This was the price to pay for the kids to go on their little monster hunt adventure.

Joseph wanted to go with them just to keep an eye out for trouble, but since there wasn't any info of the monster of the lake on the Journal, then the possibilities of them founding trouble went down considerably. Still, it wasn't exactly safe out there that is why he asked Soos to look after them, just in case.

"They owe me a big one for this." Joseph sighed as he pulled out a newspaper and started to read. He had several hours to kill. "Huh? Would you look at that." Some guy named Toby was selling a camper for almost nothing, but then again judging by the picture in the ad, the thing looked like it had better days.

**< ==SomeTimeLater== **

"You know… I don't think it is a good idea to go around harassing other people in the lake." Joseph pointed out as they were chased away by another angry pair. "It is kind of embarrassing actually." He knew that Stan had no shame, but this was getting hard to look at. "If you want one so badly, then I'd be your fishing buddy." He said somewhat resigned, but it was better than seeing him fail at social interaction that didn't involve scamming people out of their money.

"Bah!" Stan grumbled.

"Maybe you could try and teach me." Maybe that way, they could finally get one lousy fish so that this whole trip wasn't in vain.

"Ha! I'm not old or desperate enough to ask for anyone's pity." Said the man who moments ago was harassing kids in a vain attempt to feel grandfatherly.

"It is not pity, old man." Well maybe just a little bit. "I know you are upset because the Dipper and Mabel chose to go on a monster hunt instead of staying here, but you don't have to be an ass about it."

"Heh, what would you know?" Joseph could detect the underline bitterness in his voice.

"The next thing you'll say is: «What does a pampered rich boy like you, know about being left behind?» right?" Joseph predicted, but this time the usual smirk that accompanied his usual trick was nowhere to be seen.

"What does a pampered rich boy like you, know about being left behind?...Ha?!" Stan said falling for the teen's signature trick. "How did you…?"

"Stan, my family may have money but that doesn't mean everything has been easy for me." He may not have suffered the pains of poverty, but he knew about other types of hurt. Quite frankly he was tired of people assuming otherwise. "Having money does not fill the hole of not having both my parents." Both of which, had died shortly after he was born. "Granny Erina, had to raise me all by herself and I love her, but not even she could be there for me all the time!"

After the death of Joseph's parents, she refused to depend on Speedwagon and the Joestar Family money. Maybe it was her pride or maybe the heartache of losing her son was so immense that spending her golden years doing nothing besides looking after her grandson would've made her lose her mind in grief. Whatever the case may be; Joseph grew up knowing what it felt not to have people you love around as much as you wanted to.

"I never had parents to take out to the park and play ball, or to go watch a game or even to take me fishing. Still, I do not wallow in misery and allow myself become bitter because of it. So why don't you get over your dumb hurt pride and we start catching some bloody fish!"

He didn't mean to get that poignant with Stan, but he wasn't going to take the man's attitude.

Both men and teen started at each other for an uncomfortable long time of heavy silent, until Stan finally gave in with a sigh. "You win this round Joe."

"Joseph." He reminded, heck he would even take Joestar over being called Joe.

"Whatever… fishing buddy."

Somehow, Joseph knew he would come to regret trying to be nice towards Stan.

『x-x-x』

Joseph sighed, even after convincing Stan to teach him about fishing they still hadn't caught anything yet, because the old man was insisting in teaching Joseph about the intricate art of tying knots.

That would've been fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that Stan was struggling to even make the tie himself. Honestly this whole trip to the lake had been nothing but a disappointment after another. The English teen prayed for something interesting to happen.

And lo and behold, his prayers were answered, but not in the way he had expected. Because sailing at high speeds, the S.S. Cool Dude zoomed right past Stan's boat, followed by a large body chasing after it creating a wave big enough to soak Stan and Joseph from head to toe.

"What the heck was that?!" Stan spluttered, lake water coming out of his mouth.

"That looked like Soos and the kids." Being chased by something. Did they manage to find a real monster of the lake? Even though there was no info about it in the journal. "We have to go after them." The urgency in his voice was enough to prompt Stan to try and do so, yet they didn't move.

"The Engine! It's not working." Of all the times to have a problem with the Outboard motor, it had to choose the time when Dipper and Mabel were in Danger to fail on them.

Feeling desperate and with no means to row the boat, Joseph decided to jump out the boat and chase after them himself. "Stan, you stay here and see if you can fix the engine, I'm going after the kids."

"Alright."

Before Jospeh make the jump. He bear in mind how physically taxing would be to swim after a speeding boat so he stop for a few seconds to control his breathing.

"コオオオオ!"

He had never tried using Hamon before a physically demanding activity before, like Swimming, so either the Energy would boost his performance in speed or would make it so that he wouldn't tire out in the middle of it. Either way it was better than nothing.

"Here goes nothing." Having envelop himself in Hamon he jumped into the lake, only to find that he didn't submerged; at least not completely. "What the…?" He was surprised, but fortunately he didn't break his breathing rhythm. Joseph only submerged shin deep into the water. And from the Hamon enveloping his legs, the energy formed mesmerizing ripples in the water. "What is happening?" Joseph moved his legs forwards and found out that he could somehow walk without submerging into the water. "I-I can… walk on water!"

The revelation that he could walk on the fluid almost like a certain someone, would've had more impact had he not been in such a hurry. "If I can walk on water, then I can run on it too." Joseph concentrated on his breathing and started to move forward, slowly gaining more and more speed, until he finally started running without having to submerge shin deep.

As he ran away on top of the water, Stan watch him go, glad that no one else was near to witness such magnificent event and slightly disappointed that he wouldn't be able to profit from the display often thought as a miraculous ability.

"Speedwagon wasn't kidding…" The kid was a natural.

『x-x-x』

Running as fast as he could while keeping a steady rhythm of his breathing, Joseph travelled to the island where the twins and Soos went to look for the monster, and down a passage that lead directly to the bottom of a small waterfall, he found backside of a giant creature, that seemed to be stuck halfway through a small cave behind the falling water.

"Can't believe there was an actual monster in the lake." Though he knew Vampires, Zombies and Gnomes were real, a big dinosaur-like creature like the Loch Ness Monster was somehow ridiculous in his opinion. Even so, the thing was right in front of him, or at least the rear end of it.

Speaking of ends.

"The front must be inside the cave." With Soos and the Twins trapped inside. "I don't know if Hamon is effective against a monster as big as you, but…" Joseph took a deep breath and pulled back his arm with his fist prepared. "Water conducts Hamon just like electricity!" And with the monster half submerged in the life giving fluid, meant a big shock.

Now all that was needed was something cool to say.

" **EMERALD SCALES OVERDRIVE!** "

Joseph unleashed his Hamon power as he punched the beast. But the moment it made contact, he found out that the creature had no scales at all or even muscle mass. In fact, it felt like punching a metal plate.

"What the…?!" After the punch and the Hamon had dissipated, the "monster" stopped moving and Joseph took the opportunity to inspect it. Why would a lake monster hide feel like metal? Knocking on it, Joseph was rewarded by a hollow dull sound. "Holy sh*t!" This creature was a fake! A mechanical illusion!

"I guess now we know why there was no entry of the monster in the journal." Because there was never any monster for the author to record. Speaking of the Journal… "The Twins!"

Dipper, Mabel and also Soos were trapped inside the cave! The monster may have been fake, but he still needed to help them out of there.

Climbing over the monster, Joseph noticed some debris lodged between the walls of the cave and the so-called "monster" that needed to be moved.

"Okay, Take 2" A timely rescue wasn't as heroically dramatic as defeating a giant monster, but that didn't mean he was to gonna let the opportunity for an epic cry to slip him by.

" **SENDŌ HAMON OVERDRIVE!** "

Sending his Hamon through the rocks, caused them to break and blow out by the sheer force of the ripples.

"Hey! Are you okay in here?"

"Jojo!" He was joyfully received by a tight hug from Mabel who had a strong vice grip on his abdomen above his waist. "You came!"

"Of course I came." Jojo struggled a bit against the force of her grip. "I promised I would keep an eye on you guys." Though he honestly though they wouldn't actually find a giant monster, even if it turned out to be a fake. "Sorry, I wasn't here for you."

"It was a big deal, really." Dipper tried to play it cool, despite the fright he felt throughout the whole chase. "Nothing that we couldn't handle."

"Yo, Jojo!" Soos cut in. "I managed to keep my promise." Referring to the pledge of keeping the kids safe.

"I knew you would." Joseph believed in Soos, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed behind with Stan. "So? Care to tell me how your Monster Hunt went?"

"Sure, dude! We have time while I try and get the S.S Cool Dude out of here!" The handyman pointed towards his boat that looked completely trashed.

"Sh…oot! Man." Jojo slurred remembering to watch his language in front of the twins. It was a damn shame what happened to the boat.

"I'm sure I can fix it." Soos said reassuringly. "I had fun fixing it the first time, so a second time should be just as fun."

"Sure thing."He got to admit, that he admired the man's optimism. "Let me give you a hand."

The whole group worked together to try and salvage what they could from Soos' boat while Dipper, with the help of Mabel's remarks, told Joseph about their whole adventure and the truth behind the mechanical monster.

It was hard to believe that a crazy old man was capable of creating something as big and complicated like a fully operational giant monster robot; it was almost like it was lifted straight out of his favorite super-hero's comics. Speaking of the mad scientist, the old man was by himself ranting out-loud working on a supposed Death-Ray too busy to help them.

After a hour of work, they managed to bring the what was left of the S.S. Cool Dude outside of the cave so they could sail back to where Stan was.

"I don't think the boat will be able to hold the four of us." Dipper pointed out. Despite its current state, the boat was a true trooper and was going the extra mile for them.

"You guys go ahead on the boat, I'll follow you." Joseph offered.

"No disrespect, but I don't think you can swim all the way back to Stan."

"Who said anything about Swimming?" The English teen smirked before he started with his Hamon Breathing and took a step on the surface of the water, without sinking in.

The others were mesmerized by the Joestar's impossible display.

"H-How?!" Dipper was thunderstruck. Walking on water was a little too much for his mind to handle.

"Whoa that's so cool." Soos signaled at Jojo's feet from where the Ripples emanated like a moving underwater light show. He swore he could watch the whole thing for hours without becoming bored.

"You can walk on water?!" As for Mabel, she already thought that Jojo was the coolest before, being a sort-of Wizard, and now he came along and blew her mind one more time. "Just like… a ninja!" A Ninja-Wizard.

"I guess…" Joseph didn't mind the comparison. In his opinion, it was better than being compared to another well-known person that also walked on water. "Now, we better get going!"

『x-x-x』

After making their way back to the rest of the boats (with Jojo submerging into the water halfway into their return and swimming his way there before anyone else saw him break the laws of physics), Dipper and Mabel apologized to their Grunkle for going out on their Monster Hunt and leaving him behind. After Stan accepted their apologies, the whole group finally had what they wanted out of this fishing trip: fun.

Dipper used his last disposable camera he got to snap a picture of the lake monster and capture instead the fun times they all had. And when the film ran out, Jojo pulled another camera he had gotten for himself and joined in the picture taking.

At the end of the day, Joseph was glad that he came along on this unexpectedly bizarre fishing trip.

**く** **==ToBeContinued==**

『Aol Zhpua vm aol Ovsf Jvywzl dhz tvza sprlsf h Ohtvu Bzly.』

『Zahu ohz zllu Ohtvu ilmvyl.』

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that wraps up The Legend of the Gobblewonker.
> 
> Joseph got a little moment with Grunkle Stan that will be the beginning of a more casual relationship between the two of them. Also, he managed to walk on water!
> 
> But don't worry! This doesn't mean he is an expert in the use of Hamon, in fact he still has lots more to learn.
> 
> Next Time: Joseph and the Twins investigate a Bizarre "Murder" case.


	7. 『Wax Museum Murder Mystery』

Joseph sighed.

Another morning, another day of thankless jobs at the Mystery Shack. Now, since there wasn't any customers the teen thought he could hang back and relax, yet Stan had other plans and put him and Soos in charge of sweeping and dusting around the house.

"Why did I have this job again?" Oh right, because he needed money to afford his summer stay at this town in order to look out for the Pines Twins and maybe find some answers about the strangeness of this town. "Stan is such a slave driver!"

"He's not that bad." Soos said as he continued sweeping with a content look on his face. "I'm thankful for the job."

"I just don't know why you love it here so much." Joseph knew that someone with Soos' talents could've gotten a much better paying job than at the Mystery Shack. "Why don't get a job elsewhere?"

"I have fond memories of this place."It was all he said to Joseph but there was much more to it; he had worked in the shack for years, ever since he received his last postcard from his absentee father. That day changed his life forever.

"Speaking of fond memories…" Joseph began, "When would you start working at repairing your boat? I can help you if you want." In all honesty the last thing that Jojo wanted was more work, but he felt somewhat responsible for the damage Soos' boat took during their fishing trip. Had he gone with them in the beginning, maybe they could've avoided trashing it. Although with the handyman's skills, they could probably finish real quick without much effort.

"I don't know…" Soos said somewhat hesitant. "I may have work on it an entire summer, but getting the right pieces took even longer." And in several occasions he had to improvise with stuff he found lying around. "I don't think the S.S. Cool Dude will sail again this summer."

"Bummer…"It really was. All that hard work only to be tarnished in an afternoon.

"Don't worry dude, I'm sure I can find some other stuff to fix." Soos reassured, once again seeing the light side of the situation.

"Well, maybe you could install some lights in this hallway, it is dark in here!" Seriously, it was getting hard to see and there were no nearby windows around to let some light in.

"It isn't that bad." Soos had passed and clean this particular hallway hundreds of times so he was very well accustomed to it.

"Says you." Joseph then accidently bumped into an old wooden showcase. "Who puts this kind of thing in the middle of a dark hallway!" He complained loudly, but Soos noticed something strange rolling from behind the case.

"Dude, what's this?" He bent down and piked up the strange object. "Is this… a door knob?"

"What is a door knob doing behind a showcase in the middle of a hallway?" Joseph asked out-loud pondering the answer to this "mystery".

"Look at the wall dude! Behind the wallpaper." Turning around, Joseph saw there was a hole in the wall behind the wallpaper that was peeling off the wall. "Do you think the door knob fits in there?"

"Well, there is only one way to find out." It would be a lie to say that Joseph was not curious about this whole thing. He watch carefully as Soos put the knob on the hole and it fitted perfectly.

"Dude!" The portly man exclaimed in surprise when he turned the knob making a door hidden behind the wallpaper opened. "We gotta tell someone!" He then bolted back from where they came from.

"Hey, wait a sec!" Joseph said in vain before giving chase, leaving the mysterious door behind the wall slightly opened, from where a menacing feeling was emanating out of.

**ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ**

『x-x-x』

Joseph was angry, and with good reason.

"You are telling me that you had this extra room this entire time!?"

After racing to get Dipper and Mabel and share their discovery with them, Joseph and Soos came back to the dark hallway and together with the Twins, entered the strange secret room, only to find several wax statues of famous people and characters, including: Sherlock Holmes, Larry King and Coolio for some none apparent reason.

Then after Stan sneaked on them and scared the heck out of them, he explained about his once most popular attractions: the Gravity Falls Wax Museum! Which he had forgotten all about, until today.

And that bring us back to the present.

"Like I said, I forgot all about it." He then walked pass the angry teen and showed off his wax statues. "I got 'em all! Genghis Khan, Sherlock Holmes, some kind of… I don't know… goblin man?" He stumbled with the last one, the Larry King figure.

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" Jojo was getting even more angry at being so casually ignored. "You said there wasn't any room for me to stay in and that's why I had to go and stay with Soos! No offense man…" He turned to his friend, who assured him there was none to be taken, before he went back to berate Stan. "But it turns out you have this entire room we could've clear out!"

"Like I said, I forgot about it." Stan said annoyed that he had to repeat himself. "Even if I didn't, then you would've to stay here with the Statues in the room."

"Maybe…we could've come to an agreement…" Joseph held back a shudder. He was no scaredy cat, but the idea of staying the night in a dark room surrounded of wax figures really gave him the creeps; that was the stuff of nightmares and horror flicks.

After that, the conversation about the room was pretty much over and Stan proceeded to show them his favorite wax figure; the Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately, it had become a pile of melted wax because someone let the binds open and the summer sunlight had done their job.

Of course, then Mabel offered to be the one to make a whole new wax figure for Stan, and her Grunkle figuring he had nothing to lose, let her work on it.

『x-x-x』

"So do you know who are you gonna sculpt?" Dipper approached Mabel who was sitting in a storage room with a giant piece of wax in front of her ready to become art.

"Can you help me decide?" Mabel asked hoping for an definitive answer to her dilemma. "I was thinking about a Fairy Princess." Mabel showed him her sketch book full of drawings. "Or a Horse Princess? Or maybe a half fairy princess, half horse fairy princess?"

"M…Maybe…it would be better if it something from real life?" Dipper suggested, hoping to never see again that last drawing of hers; seriously it was creepy.

"Like a Waffle with big strong arms?" She showed him another sketch she created; It was a circle face with two overly muscled arms.

"Y-okay... Or, you know, something else. Like- a real person?" Despite being twins, Dipper was still wondering how his sister's mind process was like. "Or maybe there is something in this sketchbook that could actually work." Dipper took the book from Mabel's hands and started skimming through various strange and colorful drawings.

"Wait Dipper!" Mabel tried to snatch her sketchbook back and away from Dipper's eyes, but she was too late, and her brother found some drawings that she didn't want to show to anyone.

"Here's someone!" After going through several made-up creatures and bizarre combinations of creatures, Dipper was glad to find a picture of a normal person. "Wait! Is that…?"

"No!" Mabel cried as she finally took her book away from him, but it was all for naught.

"Mabel…" Dipper said slowly as he was trying to process what he saw. "Why did you have so many sketches of Joseph?" He had an idea why, but he needed to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

Mabel turned her back towards her brother, unable to look at his direction. "Well… you see…"she mumbled, and that was all that Dipper needed to hear.

"You have a crush on him!" It wasn't a question more like a statement. "You have a crush on Joseph!" Still, no matter how many times he said it out-loud it was still weird.

"Dipper! Not so loud!" She shushed him, hoping that no one had heard anything.

"Why do you have a crush on him?" He whispered loudly, hoping for a reasonable answer.

"Have you seen him?" Mabel answered with a question instead.

Just what sort of answer was that? Of course he had seen him! Joseph was in fact quite difficult to forget about, thanks to his striking appearance. He was very tall, had long luscious hair and a very well defined physique not to mention his peculiar accent and… he answered his own question, didn't he?

"Ok, I get why, but when did it start?"

"Probably when he untied me and then carried me bravely out of the forest!" She recalled with a dreamy look on her face.

"So basically the instant you met him." Dipper summarized, not at all surprised by the fact. It was a very Mabel-like thing to do. But if that was the truth, then there was something that didn't make sense. "If you have liked him since then, why is it that you haven't… you know… acted like with your other crushes?" Just like he had said before she met 'Norman', Mabel was in her "Boy-Crazy" phase, with a lot of emphasis in the "Crazy" part.

"Because…" She said a little more collected than before. "He is… out of my league…" she admitted sounding sad about it.

"Out of your league?!" Dipper repeated not believing the words coming out of her sister's mouth. Well, not the part about Joseph being out of her league, that was somewhat obvious; no, what surprised him the most was the fact that she was admitting it. It was SO unlike her that he was honestly taken aback by it. "So you know it will go unrequited." Maybe this was a sign that Mabel was maturing out of her "phase".

"For now!" She proclaimed doing a 180° from her mood from before. The change was so sudden Dipper wondered how she avoided the sheer whiplash from the turn. "But things will surely change! All I need is a different approach!"

"What do you mean?"

"Silly Dippy!"She moved her head from side to side. "One does not climb a mountain the same way you climb a tree."She said sagely, probably reciting something she read on a fortune cookie once.

"Huh?"

"I mean I can't do the same things I do with other boys with Joseph." She explained. "They simply wouldn't work!"

Dipper couldn't help but roll his eyes. Her usual tactics haven't worked once before. Well, only if you omitted Norman, but he turned out to be a bunch of Gnomes desperate to find a Queen.

"Uh huh… So…?"

"I just need to play it smart and be charming as ever!"She said confidently enough.

"No, I mean, so what are you gonna sculpt now?" Dipper decided that he had heard enough and wanted to change topics. If Mabel wanted to try and get Joseph to like her, then that was her business. Not to mention, he was sure that when the next boy comes along she would jump bandwagons like she always does.

"Like I said, I wanted to make a wax statue of Jojo, but that would be too direct!" Not to mention creepy. "That's why I need to find something else to sculpt."

"How about a member of our family?" Dipper suggested. It was a sensible option since getting the exact measurements of a celebrity would've been difficult to acquire.

As if it was a sign from up above, Stan walked into the room with the top part of his Mr. Mystery outfit but not his bottom half. "Kids have you seen my pants?"

Somehow that was inspirational enough for Mabel to decide to work on a Wax Statue of Grunkle Stan.

**<** **==NextDay==**

Joseph covered his face as he yawned.

He was sitting behind a table working the Tickets to let visitors in to The Grand Re-Opening of the Gravity Falls Wax Museum.

Honestly he didn't get why make a big deal out of it. I mean, sure he understood the event on a business perspective; loud celebration and publicity was sure to make people turn their heads and come by. But if the Museum closed down before for lack of interest, why would this time be any different; especially when they only had one new statue to show off to the public?

Then again, the Museum was closed for so long that people in the town might as well have forgetten all about it.

"So boring…" He complained as he put his hands behind his head. "Why would so many people come to this Re-Opening anyways?"Despite just asking that question to himself just to break the monotony of the silence, he received an answer from a fellow teenager besides him.

"Who knows?" Wendy shrugged. "He probably bribed them or something."

"Blackmailed most likely." Joseph sighed tiredly. "He told me that if I didn't stay for this, then he wouldn't pay me for the whole day." And the cheapskate wasn't paying him for the extra hours of work.

"Well, he bribed me." Wendy smirked as she pulled out a 5 dollar bill.

"What?!" That cheap bastard!

Unfortunately Joseph couldn't confront Stan about it, because the opening ceremony just started and he was addressing the crowd.

"As you know, I always bring the people of this town novelties and befuddlements, the likes which the world, has never known. But enough about me; Behold … me!" The showman then pulled out a white sheet and revealed his very own Wax Statue. The public was, of course, less than thrilled by this revelation, despite the fanfare produced by Soos and his keyboard. "Now a word from our very own Mabel-angelo!"

"It's just Mabel." The artist of the not-so well received statue said as she took the microphone and directed her words to the public. "Thank you for coming! I made this sculpture with my own two hands! It's covered in my blood, sweat, tears, and other fluids!" She announced much to the disgust of the public. "Yeah. I will now take questions!"

Just like with any Q&A there was always this weirdo who just made strange and very out of place questions. Case and point: Old Man McGucket, the local kook and sometimes mad scientist genius. He was the one responsible for the mechanical monster on the lake from a few days ago.

"Are the wax figures alive? And follow-up question, can I survive the wax-man uprising?"

"Um...Yes! Next question!"

The next person to ask their question was a short man with glasses and a big mustache, wearing a stereotypical newspaper reporter outfit with overalls and a fedora hat. "Toby Determined, Gravity Falls Gossiper. Do you really think this constitutes a wonder of the world?"

Before Mabel had the opportunity to answer, Stan cut it. "Your microphone's a turkey baster, Toby." That statement alone was enough to undermine his question and him as a person; which in turn made him sit back into his chair utterly humiliated.

"It certainly is…"

"Next question!" Stan asked hurrying things along.

A tall and certainly good-looking woman with long Brown hair stood up. "Shandra Jimenez, a _real_ reporter." She said giving Toby the stink eye, before continuing. "Your flyers promised free pizza with admission to this event. Is this true?"

At the mention of Pizza, and the lack of it up to this point was making the crowd get a little unruly. Apparently people came to the event not for the Wax Museum but for the quote on quote free pizza.

Having his lie exposed, caused Stan to become completely silent…for just a few seconds. "That was a typo." Yes, that was the best excuse he came up with. "Good night, everyone!" The man then threw a gas pellet unto the ground as a distraction to run towards the ticket stand were Joseph and Wendy were and took the box with the admission fee money with him.

It was only luck that prevented the audience from forming and angry mob with torches and pitchforks to chase after Stan and make him pay for his lies. Even so, the angriest amongst them took their frustrations on some of the property around the Shack.

"Well that happened…" Wendy tried to laugh the whole thing off, especially after seeing her dad, Manly Dan, break a wooden post with just one punch.

"Sneaky bastard…" Joseph grumbled under his breath. He so wanted to be part of the lynch mob that somehow didn't form. "Tell Soos, I went back to his house."He wasn't going to stay after this sh*tshow.

"Hey, wait!" Wendy tried to stop the Joestar, but he was far too mad to pay her any mind.

"Stan is going to pay!"

**<** **==ThatNight==**

It was dark outside the Mystery Shack, the Moon was shining up in the sky and the kids were already on their beds fast asleep.

It was the perfect opportunity to strike and reap vengeance.

Moving silently like a mouse, a figure travelled through the dark corridors of the house underneath the wrapping shadows covering their presence. Then the figure found him! The one that caused them so much anger, sitting in his favorite couch in front of the T.V unaware of the presence behind him.

And before the man in the couch could react, the intruder using a sharp blade cut the head of the unsuspecting man with just one swing.

**<** **==NextMorning==**

Joseph yawned as he made their way towards the Mystery Shack for another day of thankless work. Usually he would've accompany Soos, but earlier that morning Stand had called Soos to make him come before the Shack officially opened for business.

On one hand, the sleepy teen was grateful he hadn't have to come along, but on the other, that meant he had to came to work on his own by walking all the way.

"Hey! Is anyone here?" Joseph called out once he entered the Gift Shop and found no one there. Around this time, Soos would be on the middle of cleaning or moving merchandize around the place. Seeing as no one came to greet him, Jojo step out of thestore and into the house. "Soos? Dipper? Mabel? Stan?" He called out getting more and more worried each step he took with no one answering back.

That is until he stumbled into the police tape.

"What the?!" Why in the world would there be yellow police tape inside the house? Unless of course some sort of crime took place. "Hey! Is everything alright?!" Deciding to trespass the tape, Joseph walked inside looking for anyone to tell him what the hell was going on.

"Jojo in here!" called out the voice of Mabel urging him to come into the living room.

"Thank god you are here." He said with a sigh of relief. "Can you tell me what is going… HOLY CRAP!" He shouted when he saw a headless body in the middle of the room.

"Calm down Joseph. It's only Stan's Wax Statue." Dipper said making Joseph relax.

"Sorry…" He apologized bashfully for overreacting a bit. "After seeing the police tape I was kind of on edge." It was embarrassing since there wasn't even a drop of blood around.

"I knew putting the tape was a bad idea." But Mabel insisted in using it to make their investigation feel more authentic. "Anyway, we were investigating the "murder" scene and found some clues."

"Oh? Do tell." Dipper then told Joseph all about the events from yesterday. From the finding of the body, the missing statue head, and how the police weren't of any help claiming the case was unsolvable.

"But we found this!" Mabel announced almost too happy as she wielded the "murder weapon" on her hands; an Axe!

"Wow! Be careful with that." The last thing they wanted was for someone to get hurt. "So whoever the culprit is, they sneak into the house and the used the axe to cut Wax Stan's head?" Joseph summarized the clues they had so far. Whoever they were, he had to hand it to the culprit; this was a good revenge for the scam Stan pulled the other day.

"Probably it was the lumberjack!" Mabel theorized after seeing how angry he got after it turned out that there wasn't any free pizza at the re-opening. Because of that and he was also carrying an axe at the time.

"The lumberjack…?" Jojo rubbed his chin recalling the events of yesterday and the people who were present at the time. "I think Soos told me about him once; I think they call him Manly Dan." Which wasn't exactly the cleverest of nicknames, but who was Jojo to argue about that. "That guy was furious."

"Furious enough for murder!" Mabel said trying to sound dramatic; mostly because if this case was turn into a movie, she wanted to have good lines.

"But where do we find him?" Dipper wondered out-loud. Manly Dan could be anywhere.

"Soos told me about a biker joint downtown, which would be a good place to start." It was only luck that Joseph knew of the place after asking Soos about the places of interest around Gravity Falls.

After taking down the police tape and gathering some supplies to help in the investigation, the trio was ready to go to town and search for Manly Dan.

Except that Grunkle Stan intercepted them as they were exiting the house.

"Hey, give me and Soos hand with this coffin, will ya?" Stan said as he pointed at Soos taking out said coffin from his truck. "I'm doin' a memorial service for wax Stan. Something small, but classy."

"Not now Stan." Really, Stan was the only man Jojo knew that would hold a memorial to a Wax figure. Either he was short a few screws or he was a narcissist of the first degree; most likely a combination of both.

"Sorry Grunkle Stan but we have got a big break in the case!" Dipper informed, clearly excited about the whole thing. "We're heading to the town right now to interrogate the murderer."

"We got an Axe!" Mabel once again showed off the murder weapon and then she started doing the classic horror movie screeching sound. "REE, REE, REE!"

"Hm, it seems like the kind of thing that responsible parents wouldn't want you to do..." Stan said, in a rare display of responsible adult thought. "Good thing I'm an uncle. Avenge me kids! AVENGE MEEE!" He declared shouting towards the skies above.

**<** **==aNotSoLongTripLater==**

"So this is the place…" Dipper looked at the entrance of The Skull Fracture and the heavily tattooed man that served as the bouncer of the joint. "How are we supposed to enter?" Obviously both Mabel and he couldn't pass off as adults even with very convincing fake I.D's, which they also didn't have.

"I have an idea." Joseph said confidently. "But I need a vest, a flat cap, and a BIG burlap sack!"

Dipper looked at Joseph with no idea how those things would help in the first place, but he didn't bring up his doubts because Mabel was on the case, apparently. "Leave it all to me!"

Twenty minutes later, Joseph walked towards the joint wearing a green vest and a grayish flat cap that was render almost useless thanks to his long hair. Whistling a nameless tune, he approached the entrance door carrying a big and heavy looking burlap sack but was stopped by the tall and muscled bouncer.

"Can I help you?" The bouncer said in a deep booming voice making him look even more intimidating than his physique and tattoos let on.

Keeping his cool, Joseph gave him a single answer. "Potato guy."

"Where the hell have you been?" The bouncer moved aside, letting Joseph into the joint, not even bothering to check for I.D's or to corroborate his story.

Once inside, Joseph put down the burlap sack as gently as he could and let out both Dipper and Mabel.

"That was fun." Mabel said to no one's surprise while Dipper desperately gasped for air. "Wow call down Dippingsause! We weren't in the sack for more than a minute."

Ignoring her comment, Dipper turned towards Joseph. "I can't believe that work, how did you know?"

Joseph just shrugged. "What bar doesn't need potatoes for the fries?" Speaking of which, he wondered if he could order some fish and chips in this place.

"Anyways, we better look for Manly Dan." Dipper motioned them to follow his lead. "And try to blend in." said the 12 year old in a biker bar full of big muscled and hairy dudes.

It didn't take them long to find Manly Dan among the rest of the patrons. The big Lumberjack was one the corner playing on an arm wrestling game, while growling like a wild animal. The guy was clearly as dangerous as he was strong.

"Ok, maybe confronting him about this crime isn't the best idea." Joseph pointed out, especially if Manly Dan had buddies here that could come down to them. But seeing that Dipper was undeterred, he had to follow suit, only after telling Mabel to stay seated a little bit away from them.

"Manly Dan, just the guy I wanted to see. Where were you last night?" Dipper instantly pointed his finger accusingly towards the lumberjack, and Joseph could only facepalm. This kid clearly had a death wish.

"Punchin' the clock." Manly Dan growled out not even taken his eyes away from the machine in front of him.

"You were at work." Dipper said trying to analyze anything suspicious in the man's alibi.

"No, I was punchin' that clock!" the lumberjack pointed towards a window on the opposite side of the bar where one could see clearly a bent out of shape street post clock outside.

"10 o'clock, the time of the murder." The boy noted. That meant that Manly Dan wasn't the culprit if that happened to be true. "So, I guess you've never seen _this_ before?" He confronted once more, this time pulling the axe out.

"Dipper, that's enough." Joseph understood what the boy was trying to do; he wanted to get a reaction out of Dan to see if his alibi held any cracks in it. But pulling a weapon on a man you were accusing of a crime wasn't the best of ideas. Unfortunately, by pulling Dipper and the Axe away, he caught the attention of the red headed man.

"You! Potato boy!" He looked straight at Joseph. "You look like you got some muscle on you." Referring to the visible muscles on the teen's arms and under his shirt.

"So?"

As soon as he asked this, Manly Dan proceeded to rip the arm off the Arm wrestling machine before he started beating it with said arm. And this violent behavior was encouraged by some of the patrons, especially a lanky brown haired guy that was far too into it. "Get 'im! Get 'im!"

Once he was done brutalizing the poor machine, the lumberjack turned towards Joseph once more. "I want to arm wrestle you!" He cracked his knuckles and then neck. "Haven't had good challengers in ages!"

"And why should I accept?" After seeing how violent he got against the game, he wasn't exactly jumping at the opportunity. Besides, even if he and every other patron of the place accused him of being a coward, he wouldn't let that get under his skin.

"Because if you win, I'll tell you about the axe the little girl with the cap is carrying."

"Actually I'm a…" Dipper tried to say he wasn't a girl but was interrupted by Joseph.

"I accept!"

"Joseph?! What are you doing?" He pulled the teen's vest aggressively. "Didn't you see what he just did?"

"Yes, but if he has info that would help us get the culprit, then I got no other choice." He also cracked his knuckles mentally preparing for the match to come.

"He's going to destroy you!" Dipper didn't mean to be such a Downer Debbie, but Manly Dan was bigger than Joseph in every sense.

"Don't worry Dipper." Joseph smiled reassuringly. "I got this." Then he turned towards the lumberjack. "Come on Manly Dan! Are we doing this or not?"

Of course, the prospect of a match to prove one's strength and manliness got the entire place all hyped; even if the odds looked heavily stacked against Jojo.

Going to the center of the room, there was a particularly placed metal table which was used for these types of competitions. Joseph took a seat and Manly Dan took his on the opposite side, while every patron cheered and chanted. The most enthusiastic of them all, still was the lanky guy from before. "Get 'im! Get 'im!"

"Dipper? What's going on? What is Jojo doing?" Mabel asked her brother seeing the whole place getting pumped. She was previously playing with a cootie catcher with a fellow "restaurant"patron she managed to befriend at the bar while Dipper and Jojo talked with Manly Dan.

"He's going to arm wrestle for information. He needs to win otherwise Manly Dan would say nothing."

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Mabel looked at Jojo worriedly. She knew he was awesome and strong but Manly Dan was even bigger than him.

"I hope so." Although the more pessimist side of him already predicted a unfortunate result.

Seeing that look on Dipper's face and that everyone was chanting for Manly Dan to "destroy" Joseph, Mabel followed her heart and stood up on a stood and shouted "Come on Jojo! You can win!"

Hearing her shouts in support, Joseph turned around and give her a thumbs up and a smile. "You know so!"

On the other side of the table, the red head lumberjack sneered. "Make sure to last more than a second." He wanted a challenge after all.

"Let me tell you something Manly Dan." Joseph looked at the bigger man directly in the eye. "Arm Wrestling is 80% Mental and 40% Physical." He said confidently despite the faulty math and placed his elbow on the metal table. Manly Dan followed suit and their hands interlocked ready for the match.

And after the official count of three, the match was underway!

Many expected the match to be over the instant the count of three was over, with the overwhelming victory of Manly Dan. Yet to everyone's surprised, Manly Dan didn't win, in fact he was struggling to make Joseph's arm move an inch. Every patron witnessing the match were left speechless except for one little girl that kept chanting the challenger's name.

"Come on Jojo! You can do it!"

"Come on, the match already started." Jojo said with a toothy grin which only served to piss off Manly Dan, who struggled to move the arm and wipe the smirk out of Jojo's face. But no matter how much he struggled, how many veins appeared in his arm and neck or how red his face got, he couldn't move the teen's arm a single inch.

In his desperation to win, Dan completely forgot to watch out for his stamina and soon his energy was running low, making it easy for Joseph to counter attack. "I told you Manly Dan. Arm Wrestling is 80% Mental and 40% Physical." He repeated his words from before. "And the other 80% is …!" He whispered the last part causing Dan's concentration to slip thanks to the confusing words and math; Jojo capitalized the opportunity and with a big gulp of air and a loud cry "OVERDRIVE!" Jojo slammed his opponent arm on the table utterly defeating him in front of his peers.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the place exploded with shouts of disbelief and hype. Manly Dan who was the strongest around was defeated by the potato guy.

"Yeah! JOJO! JOJO! JOJO!" Mabel incited a chant once more and this time she wasn't alone.

Any other time Jojo would've bask in the glory and the adoration from his fellow men, but this time he was a man on a mission. "Manly Dan! We had a deal!" He promised answers and Jojo wanted them now. "Tell us about the axe!"

The Lumberjack was left aghast at his loss looking at his own hand as if the world around him stopped making any kind of sense to him. "Left handed…" He barely said. "The axe is left handed." And that was the last he said before clamping up, trying to process what just happened.

"Thank you." Joseph nodded before going through the crowd that wanted to congratulate or challenge him to another arm wrestle. Ignoring them all, the teen went and pick up both Dipper and Mabel before they got away from the bar.

As they put some distance between them and the bar, hoping that Manly Dan didn't follow them demanding a rematch, Mabel was still chanting victory as if her favorite football time had won the championship while Dipper and Joseph walked behind her conversing with each other.

"That was amazing! I can't believe you beat him!" Dipper was euphoric after watching Joseph overcome incredible odds and do the seemingly impossible. It was really inspiring.

"Like I said before, Arm Wrestling is 80% Mental and 40% Physical." Joseph repeated one more time, "And the other 80% is proper breathing." He couldn't smirk more if he wanted to at that moment.

"Wait! You're saying that…" Dipper was catching on what the teen was saying.

"With Hamon you can give it your 200%!" Ever since the discovery on the lake that he could walk on water using Hamon, Jojo decided to experiment on different things to see what he could with it. Of course he also revisited previous objects just to check out all possibilities. And his most recent discovery was then he was fooling around with a magnet and various things made of metal.

Joseph discovered that somehow, he wasn't exactly sure about the science behind it, he could give magnetic properties to an assortment of objects; including his own body. Of course then he proceeded to put silverware all over his body and proclaim himself as "Joseph Joestar: The Master of Magnet!"

After that, he experimented some more and found out that just as he could stick objects to his body, he could stick his body to certain objects. For example: this elbow to a metal table.

"So you cheated?" Dipper said disappointed, the splendor of the act from before diminishing. Mabel who caught wind of their conversation stopped her celebratory shouts and turned to look at the both of them.

"More like I used my natural born advantage to defeat Manly Dan's natural born hugeness." Joseph offered, but no matter how he tried to spin it, it was still cheating. "Look Dipper, I'm not going to tell you that what I did was wrong and that you should follow what I say and not what I do, because if we're honest here cheating solved our problem."

"That sounds like something Grunkle Stan would say." The boy pointed out making Joseph shudder at the thought of him being similar to Stan.

"Dipper, Mabel…" He addressed the two knowing that he had let the two of them down. "I'm no saint and I've done things that aren't exactly morally correct." Like the time he beat the crap out of some punks that dared to dirty an outfit that was a present of his Granny, and send them all to the hospital. "But it was the right thing to do; otherwise we wouldn't have gotten a lead to find our criminal." Sometimes the ends did justify the means. "I cheated not because of some petty reason like showing off or something; but because we need to bring a criminal to justice!" But only when the ends were for the good of others and not for personal gain or glory. "So my advice is: if there really isn't there another option, cheating is allowed. And if you are gonna cheat, make sure to never get exposed."

"I think I understand…" Dipper said. Even if it was through dubious means, they did it for a greater cause, right?

"So you are saying that morality is relative?" Mabel asked, not sure if that was the lesson to get out of this experience.

"Uh…?" Joseph wasn't sure what to answer. On one side, the argument was true and was a sad reality of this cold uncaring world they lived in; on the other, it was a terrible lesson to impart to kids even if they were almost teenagers.

So instead, Joseph decided to circumvent the issue. "How about we forget about it and we crack down this case?"

Thankfully, this was enough for the twins to drop the topic.

"Yeah!"

**<** **==HoursLater==**

After some good old fashioned detective work, Joseph and the twins went through the long list of suspects and crossed out those who were not left handed. Thanks to their hard work, they managed to trim down the list to one sole suspect.

That is why they called the cops, and were outside of the suspect's location, to confront him with the evidence and make him confess to their crimes.

"On 3! One…Two…Three!" Kicking the door open, the group entered the Gravity Falls Gossiper, where Toby Determined worked at.

"Nobody move! This is a raid." Sheriff Bulbs, a chubby and short black police man, announced while his companion Deputy Durland smashed a lamp with police baton.

"Toby Determined, you're under arrest for murder of the wax body of Grunkle Stan." Dipper pointed at the cowering man, sure of his guilt.

"You have the right to remain impressed with our awesome detective work." Mabel came up with another quip that would surely impress audiences if this were turned into a movie like it definitely would. She received a high five from both Dipper and Jojo who also approved of her line.

"I-I don't understand!"The sniveling Toby asked confused as to what was going on.

"Then allow me to explain." Dipper said feeling mighty and all-knowing. They figured that the motive was that Toby was hoping the grand Re-Opening of the Wax Museum would be the story that would help his failing newspaper; and when the show turned out to be a flop, Toby in his desperation for a Story and his desire for revenge, chopped the head off Stan's Statue. "But you were sloppy," not only was Toby left-handed, but his shoe's had a hole in them, exactly the same as the footprints found on the scene of the crime. "All the clues pointed to a shabby shoed reporter who was caught left handed."

"Toby Determined, you're yesterday's news!" Man, Mabel was on fire with these one-liners.

Joseph crossed his arms and nodded. He looked proudly at the twins for their incredible detective skills and reasoning. The found the right clues and pieced them together to find the culprit in a single afternoon. This was truly their moment and they deserved it.

"Boy, you're little knees must be sore... from _jumping_ to conclusions!" Toby shot back with a quip on his own. He was no longer cowering in fear; in fact he looked quite confident. "I had nothing to do with that murder."

This time Joseph cut in, not wanting cede one inch to this guy so he could spin this whole thing. "Yeah right! Where were you on the night of the incident? Show us some proof!"

"Ehh…" Toby hesitated and started to sweat, a clear sign of guilt.

"He has a point. Do you have an alibi and some proof to back it out." The sheriff insisted. If Toby didn't show them anything, it merited a trip to the police holding cells.

"No, I have just the thing." Toby then pulled out a VHS with a security tape. He rewound it to the exact time the crime took place.

The security tape showed Toby at work late at night, taking a cardboard cut-out of local news reporter Shandra Jimenez, and he then proceeded to "make-out" with it; proving that the only crime that Toby committed was against human decency.

"Time state confirms. Toby, you're off the hook. You freak of nature." Even the police agreed that Toby was a first class creep, but not a criminal.

"But, but it has to be him! Check the ax for fingerprints!" Dipper asked desperately, not wanting to believe he had gotten the wrong person. But after a quick dust check, it turns out there wasn't any other fingerprints on murder weapon besides the ones Dipper and Mabel left behind while carrying the thing.

"Hey I got a headline for you: city kids waste everyone's time." Deputy Durland mocked causing the older men in the room to laugh at the trio of kids.

Dipper, Mabel and Joseph left the building feeling embarrassed and sadden at the whole thing. It was really bad when someone like Toby Determined made fun of you.

**<** **==Sundown==**

After returning to the Shack defeated, the trio were made to appear and be part of the mock funeral for Wax Stan held by Stan. Dipper, Mabel and Joseph sat as members of the audience alongside the rest of the wax figures inside the same room where they found them, all cleared up and decorated appropriately for this "grim" and "saddening" occasion.

Stan took center stage as he cleared out his throat, mentally preparing for his speech. "

"Kids, Soos, lifeless wax figures, Joe, thank you all for coming."

Joseph rolled his eyes. Of course Stan would once again get his name wrong and put him after the wax figures in order of importance. He crossed his arms giving Stan the stink eye because he was sure the man enjoyed putting him down again and again.

"Some people might say it's wrong for a man to love a wax replica of himself." Stan continued, sounding somewhat emotional, despite the utterly ridiculousness of his words.

"They're wrong!" Soos stood up and shouted. Despite this being a farce, Soos was taking this thing way too seriously.

"Easy Soos." Stan calmed his employee down and waited for him to sit back down before continuing. "Wax Stan, I hope you're picking pockets in wax heaven." Stan voice cracked and a tear came was threatening to fall from his eye. "I'm sorry, I got glitter in my eye!" He shouted and then he ran out of the room crying, of all things; following him behind was Soos who also was spilling tears.

The whole thing would've been comical had Joseph not being part of it too.

"Those cops are right about me." Dipper said with a sad sigh. "I was way over my head."

"Dipper, we've come so far, we can't give up now." Mabel tried to reassure him but Dipper could still not forget about the failure and humiliation of today.

"Mabel's right." Joesph joined in trying to cheer the boy up. "You can't let their words get to you. You did a far better job than those donut-eaters could ever hope to accomplish." Heck, they didn't even bother with a simple investigation.

Dipper stood up from his chair and walked towards the open casket containing Wax Stan. "But I considered everything: the weapon, the motive, the clues…" There was nothing left, and no clear suspect. "Hey…Wax Stan shoe has a hole in his shoe..." Dipper pointed at the statue's shoe sole.

Both Joseph and Mabel stood up and walked over the casket to see.

"All the wax guys have that. It's where the pole thingy attaches to their stand dealy." Mabel recalled one of the many instructions she read about on the internet about how to properly make a wax figure.

This little tidbit of information alone was enough to turnaround the whole mystery. "Wait a minute, what has a hole on its shoe and no fingerprints? Mabel! The murderers are—"

"Standing right behind you." A voice with a British accent said making the trio turn around towards the owner of said voice, only to find the man known for his quotes « _when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth_.» Or better said, the wax statue of the man; he stood there despite all improbability. Alongside the rest of the wax figures.

Joseph ensued with the appropriate response.

" OH! MY! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!"

First Gnomes, then giant mechanical lake monster and now living wax statues! Was it him or the world was becoming more and more crazy by the day?

"Bravo, Dipper Pines. You've discovered our little secret." Sherlock Holmes took out the missing head of Wax Stan out of his cape. "Applaud, everyone, applaud sarcastically."

The rest followed suit and applauded slow and condescending.

"But... how is this possible? You're made of wax!" Dipper asked wanting answers and Joseph couldn't fault him for that because he was on the same boat as him.

"Are you…magic?" Mabel asked, not scared but in fact marveled by this development.

"Are we magic? She wants to know if we're magic!" Sherlock laughed at the idea before shouting angrily. "We're CURSED!"

"Cursed! Cursed!" His fellow wax statues chanted, looking pretty creepy, specially with their cold, unblinking, dead eyes.

"Aren't curses magic…?" Joseph wished to point out, but was promptly ignored by Sherlock who told their tragic story.

"We are cursed to come to life whenever the moon is waxing." Which was strangely unironic for a curse. "Your uncle bought us many years ago at a garage sale." And by that they meant Stan stole them when their previous owner wasn't looking. "And so, the Mystery Shack Wax Collection was born. By day, we would be the playthings of man."

"But when your uncle went to sleep, we would rule da night." Wax Coolio butt in, in an attempt to become relevant.

"It was a charmed life for us cursed beings..." Sherlock continued ignoring the interruption. "That is, until your uncle closed up shop. We've been waiting ten years to get our revenge on Stan for locking us away... But we got the wrong guy."

"So, _you're_ trying to murder Grunkle Stan for real?!" Dipper realized what they were getting at. And it was by sheer luck that their Uncle wasn't murder that night.

"You were right all along, Dipper! Wax people _are_ creepy!" The understatement of the year was delivered by Mabel, who was backing away from said statues.

"Enough! Now that you know our secret, you must... _die_." Wax Sherlock Holes declared as his eyes and the rest of the figures rolled back leaving nothing but white, making them even creepier which nobody thought was possible.

The Wax Figures plan was to capture the trio and then chop them all to pieces with an axe, but what they didn't expect was for Joseph to step up and delivered a classic one-two punch combination to Sherlock's face sending him flying backwards with his wax face deformed by the sheer force behind of the teen's fists.

"You want to kill us? Well you'll find out that is not going to be that easy, you bloody w*nker!" Joseph didn't meant to slip out of his American accent, but it had been so long since he got to punch the face of a fellow Englishman that the occasion warranted it.

"Dipper, Mabel…? I know you guys could beat these dumb statues on your own. But I've been accumulating much tension lately and I want to relive some stress." Joseph cracked his knuckles and neck to emphasize the point. "So I hope you don't mind I take care of these Maggots by myself."

"We don't mind, Joseph." Dipper said as she urged him to continue on.

"Just be careful." Mabel added in, wishing him both good luck and safety.

"You guys are the best mates!" Joseph smirked before turning back to the statues which were helping to rearrange Sherlock's face.

"You fool! You think you can defeat us with mere brute strength?" the fictional detective stood up, his face still slightly messed up.

"The next thing you'll say is: «We are made of cursed Wax, we do not feel pain.» right?"

"We are made of cursed Wax, we do not feel pain… Ha?!" Sherlock was the latest to fall and be utterly confused by Joseph's signature trick, which Joseph took advantage of and delivered another powerful blow.

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Joseph punched sent him flying to the opposite wall. "By the way, your voice is so annoying!" Not to mention the accent was phony.

"What are you waiting for?! Get him and the kids!" Sherlock ordered and the rest of the statues obeyed.

Joseph didn't need to read minds to figure out the Wax Figures intended to distract him while they snatched Mabel and Dipper. So that meant he couldn't toy around with them.

Wax Genghis Khan was the first to try to attack him by raising his sword above his head for a down slash to rip his skull open like a melon. So Jojo didn't even let him get a chance to try.

"HAMON CHOP!" With a horizontal strike, Joseph sliced off Khans hands making him scream and back down in surprise. The stubs he should have for arms were slowly cooling off from melting.

"W-What did you do?!"

"My regular punches might not affect you much, but with my Hamon charged fists I can!" Jojo said happy that Hamon was useful and very effecting against them.

"Hamon?!"

"That's right! The energy produced by the Ripple is the same as sunlight!" Dipper commented surprised, delivering exposition for those who didn't know or had forgotten. "So if sunlight can melt wax, so does the Ripple!"

"Yeah! Go Jojo and punch with the power of the sun!" Mabel cheered sure that the battle was about to start would be so memorable; a shame she didn't have her camera with her.

"Did I just say my fists can hurt you? My mistake…So can my legs! Hamon Sweep!" Joseph then swept the legs of his opponent, slicing them right underneath the knees making the Khan fall on the floor.

That is when the Wax Figures realized that the kids weren't trapped in the house with them. They were the ones trapped in the house with Jojo.

"Who's next?" Joseph smiled devilishly.

**<** **==AnEpicFightSceneLater==**

"You know, this was oddly therapeutic." Joseph mentioned as he melted off the remaining wax pieces using Hamon. "I really need to do this again sometime."

"Jojo you were awesome!" Mabel went for another celebratory hug, only to regret it when her sweater got sullied with the melted wax that Joseph's clothes were covered in. "Ew, sticky!" And not the good kind of sticky.

"Thanks Joseph. Because of you we solved the Mystery." Dipper said as he clutched the recovered head from Wax Stan. "And thanks for taking care of those Wax Figures." Despite not being able to help, Dipper enjoyed witnessing the fight because it was almost straight out an action movie.

"Thanks Dipper, but the credit should go to you two." It was their reasoning skills and detective work that really solved this case. "I was just The Muscle." And also the Trickster and the Eye Candy of the team. "You Dipper were the Brains behind it all."

"Thanks." Dipper couldn't help but smile at the praise because when it came from someone was cool as Joseph it really meant something.

"Oh! What was I? What was I?" Mabel jumped up and down, also wanting to have a moniker for her contributions to the team.

"Well, Mabel you represent an important aspect in all teams: The Heart!" Joseph said making the girl smile. "Because without Heart then where's the fun of doing anything, really."

"Aww!"

"So I guess this case is closed, all thanks to the Mystery Twins!" Jojo declared loudly, hoping to have sound epic enough.

"Mystery Twins?" Dipper repeated, not really going crazy for the name. "What about you Joseph?"

"Yeah, if we are the Mystery Twins when who are you?" It didn't felt right to exclude him from the name since he too was an important part of the team.

"Me? I'm the handsome and intrepid Jojo!" He pointed to himself with his thumb and gave them a toothy smile. "I'm the guy that Teams up with the Mystery Twins and also features in the back-up story of every issue." Heck he could already see the title of his stories: 'The Uncanny Happenings of Joseph Joestar.' Now that was a title that would get people's attention.

"Yeah, I can see that." Dipper nodded understanding Joseph allegory thanks to his own interests with comic books. "It fits you more than being a sidekick like Mabel."

"No offense Dipper, but you're the sidekick." Mabel answered with a playful shove.

"What? Says who? Have people been saying that? Have you heard that?"

Joseph couldn't help but laugh and soon after both Mabel and Dipper joined in joyful celebration of their success.

A shame that the sweat taste of victory wouldn't last much longer.

"Hot Belgian waffles! What happened to my parlor!?" Stan shouted in surprised after he walked in on them.

Explaining to Stan that the reason why Joseph was covered in melted wax and that they had to destroy the wax figures because they were alive and evil didn't exactly go too well. The showman accused Joseph of wanting to destroy the figures just to that the recently discovered parlor was available for him to stay at. This made Joseph fume in anger, because that had been the farthest thought in his mind and that Stan just wanted to force him to repay for the damage.

Thankfully, with the intervention of Mabel and the return of Stan's beloved Wax Head, the old man decided to "forget" about the incident but he still wouldn't let Joseph stay at the parlor, because it was going to be repurposed.

Even after Stan left clear instructions for Joseph to clean the whole room from top to bottom, the Teen kept on clenching his fist in anger.

"Mabel…? Are there any Wax Statues left for me to pummel?" He really needed more stress relief.

"I am 99% sure that you got them all!"

Jospeh sighed, 99% was pretty definitive. That is until another thought came to mind. "Mabel…? What wax did you use for the Stan figure?"

"What wax? Well, I used some of the wax left from melted Lincoln, why?" She rubbed her chin wondering where Joseph was going with this.

"Wait! You don't think…?!" Dipper caught on and turned towards the casket where Wax Stan body still remained, and the newly recovered head stared at them with those cold dead eyes of his "It will also come to life?!" His voice cracking in slight fright.

The trio backed away from the casket sensing the room temperature drop a few degrees while a strange menacing feeling emanate from the decapitated head.

**ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ** **ゴ**

"I don't know, kids. But we better keep an eye on that statue."

**<** **==ToBeContinued==**

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked writing this chapter; because Joseph got his moment to shine as both a trickster and a fighter and finally Hamon has any effects on an opponent.
> 
> Also, there are a lot of references in this one. Can you spot them all?
> 
> This was previously two separate chapters now joined into one.


	8. 『Mabel's New Suitor』

Joseph didn't need to be a genius to figure out that Stan was still angry about the whole "melting down the wax statues" debacle. Otherwise he wouldn't be in the situation he was currently in.

"For our next to last attraction I present to you: Joe, the Human Magnet!" Stand announced, while Joseph had to stand there in the open without a shirt on while clueless tourists looked at him like he was a freak.

This was his punishment. For melting down his previous attractions he was forced to become one. And since the old man had caught him showing the twins his ability to magnetize his body using Hamon, he was forced to use his "trick" to amaze the customers on top of his regular work load.

"Try and throw your money at him and see how it sticks to him! Even regular dollar bills work too!" Stan prompted the audience and they immediately followed by throwing their cash at Joseph which, true to the showman's words, stuck to Joseph's body much like a magnet would a fridge.

Joseph stood still as he was pelted with money, which frankly, didn't hurt that much but it was annoying as hell. He would've protested, but Stan promised he would get a cut of the money he managed to collect. Sure, the cut was probably going to be incredibly unfair, but he needed the extra cash so he complied, at least for now.

Once the customers had been properly entertained and spent all what they willing to at the moment, Stan moved the crowd outside so he could try his last trick to scam the tourists some more: the Sack of Mystery.

Joseph sighed after releasing his Hamon breathing, letting all the money sticking to his body fall off so he could collect it all the while muttering under his breath about having to endure such humiliation. Sure, he loved being the center of attention on occasions, and he wouldn't mind too much being an attraction to bring in customers, but only if all of that was under his own terms and not Stan's.

Rounding out all the money and putting in a jar so Stan could collect it later was Jojo's last task for that day, and now that he was finished, he could finally put on some clothes and go back to abuelita's house with Soos.

Walking into the living room, Joseph found Soos and the twins watching attentively at the TV, enthralled by some sort of commercial.

"So don't waste your time with other so-called "man of mystery"!" The voice of the TV announcer said as it showed a not so flattering picture of Stan coming out of an outhouse with the word ' **FRAUD** ' stamped over it in big bold letters.

Ouch.

"Learn about Tomorrow tonight at Gideon's Tent of Telepathy." Then a disclaimer fast forwarded in a speed that no normal human could keep up.

"Wow, I'm getting all curiousy inside!" Mabel said just as Stan walked by and passed right next to Joseph paying him no mind.

"Well don't get too curiousy. Ever since that monster Gideon rolled into town, I've nothing but trouble." He recalled a particularly recent bad experience when a parking space was stolen from him by Gideon's tour bus.

Unbeknownst to them, Joseph took the news with interest; a person that Stan disliked more than him? Surely, this Gideon person was either a worse version of Stan, or a cool guy the old man couldn't stand.

"Well is he really a psychic?" Mabel wondered about the possibilities of all the things she could find out about the future if that was really the case. Maybe ask about her future with a 'certain someone'.

"I think he should go and find out." Dipper proposed. After all the crazy things they had seen in Gravity Falls, especially with all the things Joseph was capable of, the idea of psychics being real wasn't a far off possibility.

"Never!" Stan quickly opposed. "You're forbidden from patronizing the competition." For a second Jojo wondered if this was Stan's general dislike for Gideon speaking, or his usual cheapskate self not wanting to spend his money. "No one who lives under my roof is allowed to pay to visit Gideon's business."

"Well then, good thing I don't live under your roof, old man." Joseph cut in seeing the opportunity to mess with the showman. "So that means Dipper and Mabel can come along as long as I pay for them, right?" He really didn't want to spend what little money he had with him, but damn, it was worth it just to see the reaction on the old man's face.

"Yeah, we got ourselves a loophole." Mabel celebrated alongside Dipper, both very excited for the opportunity. "Thanks Jojo!"

"Huh? With what money?" Stan said curtly wanting to cut their celebration short. "Last I remember you were short on cash."

"I don't worry, I help myself from the money I earned today with my show." Jojo smirked back as he held some of the money he had previously taken from the jar.

"I knew it! The jar felt too light and…" But Joseph didn't bother to keep listening to the man's rant.

"Come on, we got a show to catch!" He proclaim, urging the twins along. "Come along with us too, Soos." He added not forgetting about the repairman.

"Yes!" Soos pumped his fist as he too follow them, leaving Stan all alone inside the living room.

"Ingrates!"

**< ==AtTheTentOfTelepathy== **

"Whoa, this is like a bizarro version of the Mystery Shack." Dipper commented as he observed from his seat the interior of the Tent of Telepathy.

"I'll say." Joseph, who was sitting to Dipper's right and to Soos' left, nodded in agreement; if the man with a "psychic sack" outside asking for admission fee at the tent's entrance wasn't enough of a clue, the mountain of cheap and useless merchandize to the side cemented the idea.

"They even have their own Soos." Dipper pointed to the side at a maintenance worker that looked eerily familiar to their own repair man. But only Soos eyed at the guy with suspicion.

"It's starting, it's starting." Mabel said with barely contained excitement as the lights dimmed out, music started playing, and the spotlights moved around the tent in order to delay the suspense even more.

Not too shabby for a small independent production, was Joseph's opinion.

"Let's see what this _monster_ looks like." The boy wanted to know who the person who caused his Grunkle to act even grumpier than usual was.

The music ramped up and the spotlights centered on the stage bringing the suspense to the max, then the curtains opened only to reveal… a small child.

Joseph didn't know if to laugh at the fact that Stan's nemesis was a little kid, or feel disappointed at how underwhelming this revelation was. He spent his rightfully earned money for this after all.

The kid onstage, presumably Gideon, was wearing a baby blue suit, a black shirt, and an American flag pin on the left side of his collar, a bolo tie on his neck and a very gaudy cape on the back; it really was invoking the look of a televangelist. But the most striking thing about this kid wasn't his clothes, but his hairstyle. That white pompadour was bigger than the boy's head.

' _That hair makes your head look stupid huge, kid_.' Jojo thought to himself.

"Hello America! My name is Li'l Gideon." The little kid on stage presented himself, with a noticeable Southern accent. Gideon then clapped, doves flew out of his hair and the crowd cheered.

"That's Stan's mortal enemy?" Dipper voiced everyone's incredulity, except for Mable who found the little kid really adorable.

"But he's so wittle!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is such a gift to have you here tonight! ...Such a gift. I have a _vision_. I predict that you will soon all say, 'aww'." Gideon make a quick turn to hide his face from the audience for just a second before he turned back with the "cutest" expression he could muster, and of course the audience aside from the Mystery Shack group was eating it all up.

"Awww."

"It came true." Mabel said in awe while Dipper looked at her as if there was something wrong with her.

"What? I'm not impressed." He said wanting to clue in Mabel of how cheap that trick was. To his side, Joseph chuckled a bit. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know… I just find it funny how similar to my "Signature Trick" that was."

"Really?" Dipper looked surprised. He had seen Joseph used his signature trick of predicting exactly the next thing a person would say many times now, and every time it was as impressive as the last. He asked Joseph to explain to him who he did it, but the teen always refused claiming that it was a "trade secret".

"I said 'similar', Dipper." Joseph clarified before Dipper started forming ideas about his trick. "It is not that simple as he's making it look."

Dipper had to concede. It was pretty obvious how Gideon performed such "trick", but with Joseph he had no clue as to how he did it.

Soon after music started to play again and Gideon performed a song and dance number much to the delight of the rest of the audience.

" _Come on, everybody, rise up! I want y'all to keep it going!"_

And exactly as the song indicated, everyone stood up without a second thought.

"Wha? How did he…?" Dipper wasn't the only one questioning the involuntary stand up from their seats. Jojo looked surprised as well.

"Keep it going!" Gideon continued while the audience clapped along to the beat of the song.

What followed was a bunch of "predictions" towards some of the members of the public. Pointing out things that anyone with a little bit of observational skill could figure out.

" _I'll read your mind if I'm able…"_ Gideon sang as he approached Mabel giving her a wink, who looked enthralled by the whole show. " _Something tells me you're named Mabel."_

"How'd he do that?" Mabel asked even more amazed, forgetting for the moment that her sweeter had her named knitted on the front.

" _So welcome all ye... to the Tent of Telepathy_ ," Gideon continued singing back onstage again. " _And thanks for visiting..._ _widdle ol' me_!"

As the song and dance came to the end, the crowd went wild with applause, giving little Gideon enough time to catch his breath. "Thank you! You people are the real miracles!"

After that, Gideon showcased his talents as a psychic by having members of the audience come onto the stage and told them things about themselves that the boy couldn't possibly known beforehand.

' _That Gideon kid is pretty good_.' Joseph admitted in his thoughts. Not his abilities as a psychic, no; but the kid's ability to use "cold reading" at such a young age.

It didn't take more than a second for Jojo to figure out that Gideon was using the same exact technique as countless mentalists, psychics, fortune-tellers and mediums used to trick people into believing the "reader" knew more than they actually do.

You see, by analyzing the person's body language, age, clothing, fashion, hairstyle, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race or ethnicity, manner of speech, place of origin, etc. the "reader" can obtain a great deal of information. Combine this with high-probability guesses, and you get yourself a neat trick to either entertain at parties or scam the money out of gullible fools.

That skill alone was impressive enough on its own, but to combine it into an improvised song and dance number, that required talent.

Joseph respected that.

Once the show finished for the day, the Mystery Shack group made their way out of the tent while discussing the show and little Gideon.

"Man, that kid's an even bigger fraud than Stan! No wonder our Stan's jealous." Dipper said with contained laughs. Finding out his grunkle's nemesis was just a kid using a cheap trick was hilarious to him.

"Oh, come on. His dance moves were adorable! And did you see his hair? It was like, whoosh!" Unlike her brother, Mabel had enjoyed the show for what it was: a spectacle full of catchy music and silly dances.

"You're too easily impressed."Dipper teased, before turning towards Joseph to ask, "What do you think of the show, Joseph?"

"It wasn't that bad." It wasn't great either, but at least he didn't feel like he had wasted his money in vain. "A fraud Gideon might be, but he has talent for the showbiz." He fully admitted.

"Eh? You too?" The boy couldn't believe Jojo was also impressed by Gideon's show. "How can you be impressed by such a cheap trick?"

"Just because you are smart enough to see through the trick, it doesn't make it any less remarkable." Joseph grabbed the boy and gave him a noogie for being a know-it-all. "Let's see you do better than him."

"N-No way." Dipper said while struggling on the Teen's hold.

"See! If you can't do it then it isn't a cheap trick." Joseph grinded his knuckle one last time before he let Dipper go. "Come on! Let's go back to Soos' truck so we can take you home."

Unknown to them, a small figure was observing them retreat away from the tent with an intense gaze.

_ゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴ_

**< ==TheDayAfterTheShow== **

Thanks to Gideon Telepathy Tent taking in all the costumers, business at the Mystery Shack was going extra slow. Joseph thought this would mean less work for him, but Stan insisted in putting him to work in other things, like sweeping the entire shack, or he wouldn't pay him for coming to work today.

"Pss… so unfair…" Jojo grumbled under his breath. "Wendy doesn't have to show up and nobody says anything, but if I take a break, the old man is all over my case." Sure, Wendy wasn't getting paid for missing that day, but she didn't need the money or a break as much as he did.

Joseph thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the doorbell and Stand yelling right after. "Joe! Answer that door!"

Joseph mumbled about stupid old men and their constant butchering of his name as he approached the door to receive their unexpected visitor.

"Howdy!"

"Hey, It's _wittle ol'_ you!" Jojo was honestly surprised to see the little psychic from last night show at their door.

"Yeah, my song's quite catchy." Gideon said with a hidden edge on his voice.

"To what do we owe your visit to the Mystery Shack?" Jojo went straight to the point without being too blunt. He was just a little kid after all and the newest celebrity around.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could speak with Mabel." Jojo raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't comment on it.

"Mabel! Someone's looking for you!"

A few seconds later, Mabel came rushing at the door excited to see who was looking for her and reacted the same way as Jojo did when she found Gideon at the door. "It's "wittle ol'" you!"

"Yeah, I know." He answered with a small shy laugh.

 _'Oh! So this is how it is.'_ Joseph smirked quickly figuring out the boy's reason to come by and visit. Mabel had caught the eye of wittle ol' Gideon. "I'll leave the two of you alone." He gave a little goodbye wave before going inside, as entertaining as watching those two might be, he had work to do.

God! How he despised that cheap bastard.

**< ==AnHourLater== **

Joseph finally got his break and was enjoying a nice cold drink of Pitt Cola. It wasn't Mocha Cola, but it was better than nothing, especially since he didn't trust the water supply inside the Shack.

No tap water for this guy.

But as he was rounding out a corner, Joseph managed to catch the end of a discussion between Dipper and Mabel. He remained hidden as to not interrupt them and make scene, yet ended up eavesdropping.

"Oh, leave him alone! You never want to do girly stuff with me; you and Soos get to do boy stuff all the time!" He heard Mabel and by her tone of voice, she had been keeping silent of this fact for some time now. "And if it not with him, when we hang with Jojo it is stuff you want to do."

"What are you talking about?" Dipper asked, not wanting to see his sister's point, or maybe he didn't actually see it at all.

And to prove Mabel's argument, Soos came on running with a packet of sausages. "Hey dude, I'm on a break! You ready to blow up these hot dogs in the microwave one by one?"

"Am I?" The two of them quickly ran away towards the kitchen, if the heavy steps the teen heard were any indication.

' _Darn that sounds like fun_.' The hidden English boy couldn't help but think about all those silly things he didn't get to do because of how firm his Granny was. She wanted him to become a gentleman just like his grandpa Jonathan, and anything too unsophisticated was always prohibited.

Joseph's his musings were cut short once he heard Mabel's gloomy sigh as she walked away to do her own thing. He was torn about what to do in these types of situations. Should he go and console her, revealing he had snoop on their little fight? Or should he do nothing and hope the twins solve this issue on their own, since this was their business and not his?

In the end, Joseph went for the later.

Siblings fought and made up all the time, so why should this be any different? Besides, Mabel had made a friend today. Surely things would be alright, right?

**< ==TheVeryNextDay== **

"Are go going on a date?!" Dipper asked voicing both his and Joseph's surprise at the news Mabel just told. "With Gideon?!"

"Well…" Mabel drew out feeling a little self conscious since both boys were staring at her. In her mind she worried most about how Jojo would react. Would he be worried? Or would he feel jealous? Or worst of it all, would he actually support this?

"I gotta say, I actually didn't see this coming." Jojo finally responded showing no strong reactions at all.

"It's not a date-date, it's just, you know…"She nervously played with her hair; she didn't want people to misunderstand her decision of taking up Gideon's invitation for a date. "I didn't want to hurt his feelings and so I figured I'd throw him a bone."

"Mabel, guys don't work that way." Dipper crossed his arms and shook his head in disapproval. "He's gonna fall in love with you."

"I don't know Dip." Joseph cut in with a small grin, "I think that only happens to desperate guys who never managed to get a date with a girl before. Kinda like you."

"Yea- hey!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" The teen laughed a bit before turning back to Mabel. "Seriously thou, it's better to make your intentions known, you wouldn't want to string him along and break his wittle ol' heart."

"Yeah right. I'm not _that_ lovable." She scoffed trying to play away her own doubts.

"Okay, we agree on something here." Dipper nodded sagely only to receive a small tap on the back courtesy from Joseph. "Ow!"

"Don't listen to him, you can never be too careful." Jojo reminded. "If I were in his place I could totally start falling for you."

"Eh!" Mabel cried a bit before she became a blushing mess. She got so red that she had to turn to hide her face from them, something Jojo found really cute.

"Now that's how you tease a girl before a date." Joseph whispered on Dipper's ear, who only nodded in agreement.

Before further playful teasing could continue, the door bell rang signaling the arrival of Mabel's date. After the redness had faded away, Mabel went for the door and opened it…

Only to come face to face with a horse!

Poor Mabel, she ended up screaming and falling backwards.

"A night of enchantment awaits, m'lady!" Gideon announced atop from the steed like a noble knight or a cheesy romance novel protagonist would.

"Oh…boy." Mabel could already tell things were going places she didn't particularly like.

It took a few minutes for Mabel to finally get up the horse and when she did, the two of them rode away to whatever plans Gideon had for their date.

"Okay, now that's impressive." Joseph commented out-loud as he watched them go. "A little ostentatious, but impressive nonetheless."

"What do you mean?" Dipper looked up to the teen confused.

"Dipper, if there is something you should know about girls. They go crazy for horses." Nobody knew exactly why, but almost every girl and women loved them; and those rare minority that didn't, often didn't hate them either. "Horse riding, horse carriage rides, a day at the hippodrome watching horse races. All prime dating activities to wow the ladies."

"Really?"

"Trust me Dipper, I know about this stuff." Despite never having a girlfriend before, but he didn't need to tell the boy that.

**< ==TheNextDay== **

Once again it was a slow day at the Mystery Shack, since people in Gravity Falls were more interested in the new town's idol Gideon. It hadn't been more than one day and there were already pictures of Mabel in the newspaper and magazines proclaiming her to be Gideon's Girlfriend.

' _They should've taken these yesterday when Gideon visit for the first time_.' Joseph thought as he put this yellow press crap away.

Currently he was on a break, lounging around in the Gift Shop with Soos, Dipper and Wendy, who brought all of these magazines and newspapers on her way to work. Unlike Joseph, everyone else was keen to read on whatever these so-called writers had to say about this HOT NEW ROMANCE.

They were little kids for god's sake!

Despite Joseph's opinions on the tabloids, no one was taking the news as bad as Stan.

"WHAT?! That little shyster is dating my great niece!?"

Although Joseph did found the man's rage a little misplaced. Gideon might be Stan's business nemesis, but he wasn't THAT bad. He was just a little kid with a big crush.

"I wonder what the new name will be for the power couple." Soos mused not paying his usual attention towards Stan, "Mabideon? Gideabel? Magidbeleon!"

' _Who uses combined names for couples in real life?'_ The only time he had heard combined couple names was on the internet by fans that cared too much about their 'ships'. ' _Seriously, Irene would never end up with Michael. It is obvious she loves Anakiss_.'

Having his anger ignored by the others Grunkle Stan stomped angrily out of the shop.

"I didn't know! I didn't hear about it and plus, I told her not to." Dipper shouted towards his leaving Grunkle, jumping boats to avoid the old man's fury.

"Yeah, well it ends tonight." Stan reentered the room, having changed from his underwear to his work outfit in mere seconds. He was really fast when he wanted it to be. "I'm going right down to that little skunk's house; this is gonna stop RIGHT now!" And with that mighty declaration he slammed the shop's door and left.

"So that means work's done and we can go home now?" Joseph asked out-loud while everyone else just shrugged.

**< ==TwoDaysLater==**

Mabel was pacing back and forward inside the living room.

She just had returned home after ANOTHER unwanted date with Gideon. It wasn't as if she hated him, she liked him but just wasn't interested in him that way. She saw him more like a friend/little sister. Yet every time she had tried to put a stop to these dates, Gideon would do something that would make it impossible for her to say no.

"..I mean, he's so nice, but.. I can't keep doing this. But I can't break his heart." Otherwise she would look like a bad person. "I have no way out!"

Adding insult to injury, Joseph asked her about her dates and kept on saying that she was very lucky to have a suitor that pampered so much with dinners, dancing and fireworks.

"What in the heck happened on that date?" Dipper cut in as he entered the living room interrupting her rambling.

"I don't know! I was in the friend zone, and then before I knew what was happening, he pulled me into the romance zone. It was like quick sand! Chubby quicksand!" She said while griping the shoulders of her brother, desperate for any sort of solution to her problem. And Dipper who thought Mabel was over-exaggerating as always tried to play down her worries.

"Mabel, come on. It's not like you're gonna have to marry Gideon." It was just a couple of dates; it wasn't like she was committing to spend her entire life with the little guy. But it seems the universe wanted to prove him wrong, when the very next moment Grunkle Stan appeared through the door frame.

"Great news, Mabel. You have to marry Gideon!"

"WHAT!?"

"It's all part of my long term deal with Buddy Gleeful." If the announcement wasn't bad enough, their great uncle was wearing a shirt with big bold blue letters with the words TEAM GIDEON on the front. "There's a lot of cash tied up in this thing. Plus I got this shirt."

Having heard enough, Mabel couldn't keep herself composed anymore and she ran away screaming.

"Geez. What is her problem?" Stan asked Dipper with absolutely no sense of awareness.

Dipper just rolled his eyes ignoring Stan and went after his sister probably went and hid on their empty room to pretend her problems wouldn't follow her. Once he arrived to the attic, he confirmed his suspicions when he saw Mabel on a corner hiding her head underneath her pink sweater.

"Oh no. Mabel..." Things were really serious if she was acting like this.

"Mabel's not here. She's in sweater town." She said from underneath the sweater.

"Are you gonna come _out_ of sweater town?" The response he got? Just a tiny whine and a shake meaning no. Dipper really hated seeing her in this state. "Alright, enough is enough. If you can't break up with Gideon, I'll do it for you."

"You will?" She asked hopefully, taking a peek from inside Sweater Town just in time to see her brother nod. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" Mabel cheered as she gave him a couple of playful punches and finally a big hug of appreciation.

"Alright."

**< ==LaterThatNight==**

After tracking down exactly were Gideon was, Dipper went to the most high-class club in town, aptly named THE CLUB, to talk with Gideon and put an end to this relationship that was causing his sister so much grief.

Seeing the boy sitting alone on a booth, Dipper knew this was the time to aboard him. Once he was near enough he cleared his throat catching the attention of the so-called psychic.

"Oh. Dipper Pines, how are you? You look good, you look good." He was greeted politely. Although they had never really talked with each other before, they had being "officially introduced" when Gideon went to pick-up Mabel for one of their dates.

"Thanks, you uh... Look, Gideon." Dipper hesitated for a second, not knowing how to phrase the news. He wanted to be direct and tell Gideoan that Mabel was weirded-out by him and that she didn't want to see him no more. But when he thought about it, that might just piss the little guy off. So instead he took a page out of Joseph's book and bended the truth a little bit. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Mabel isn't going to go on more dates with you."

"So what are you sayin'…exactly?" Gideon tried to ask in a calm and collected manner yet his couldn't stop his eye from twitching a bit.

"It is nothing about you." Dipper lied before the boy took offense. "She's grateful and had fun and all, but she can't go on this dates with you because…" He trailed off trying to come up with something that sounding convincing. "She kinda has a crush on someone else."

For ten long seconds, neither of the boys said anything; Gideon trying to process the revelation without blowing a fuss right there and then while Dipper wondered why he said what he did.

"You don't…say." Gideon finally broke the awkward silence while his eye twitch some more.

"You're not gonna like, freak out or anything, are ya?" Dipper asked worried that he screwed things up by opening his big mouth.

"Of course not. These things happen. You can't tell a heart what to do. Better let things become bygones, you know."

"So. Okay. Cool. Then again, sorry man, but uh, hey, thumbs up. Huh?" Dipper slowly backed away, not wanting nothing more that for this awkward moment to be over.

Once he was outside of THE CLUB, Dipper finally released a heavy sigh he didn't know he was holding.

"How'd it go?" Joseph who had been standing outside waiting for him to be done asked looking at Dipper expectantly. "Was he mad?" He had only come to accompany Dipper since it was already dark outside, but even he couldn't contain his curiosity, wanting to know the details of the break-up.

"I don't know. I hope I didn't screwed things up, you know?" Dipper admitted as he scratched the back of his head. "I mean, he's just a kid right. It's not like he has powers and will try to seek revenge."

"If he really had powers, he wouldn't be in this town trying to scam money out of gullible townsfolk and tourists." Unlike Joseph whose only excuse to do so was to keep his job at the Shack. "I'm sure that things will blow over in a few days, there is nothing to worry about."

**< ==EvenLaterThatNight==**

Inside the confines of this dark room Gideon Gleeful panted heavily while looking at his own angry reflection in the mirror.

"Dipper Pines, you don't know what you've done!" How dare he say something like that to him! To tell him that his precious Mabel didn't want to see him no more and worst of all she was in love with somebody else!

Grabbing onto his bolo tie, he call forward the power of the secret amulet to levitate the objects in the room and explode all the light bulbs on his boudoir.

"You've just made the biggest mistake of your life!" He slammed the floating objects around, trashing the whole room in his tantrum. "Mable, MY MABEL could not possibly love anyone besides me!"

Could she?

Looking towards his door where he had pinned several pictures depicting Mabel, some of them from their dates, others… from times she wasn't aware of. Within one of these pictures, Gideon noticed the presence of another MAN who wasn't her brother or her great uncle Stan.

HIM!

The man who opened the door the first time he visited Mabel. The one they call Joseph Joestar!

Look at him! Tall, with long luscious hair, great physique and he was European from a rich family to boot! Surely he had use those features of his to catch Mabel's eye and ensnare her in his grasp, taking her away from her true love, Gideon!

And Dipper Pines! Oh how pleased he looked delivering such terrible news to him. It was obvious the little rat was working for the man. Probably glad to sell out his sister for the favors and protection the Brit could provide.

But nothing could protect Dipper Pines or that Joestar from the wrath of Gideon Gleeful.

"Dipper Pines! Joseph Joestar! You will pay for your impudence!" Using the power of the amulet, he burned away the images of both males, leaving only his darling angel intact.

**< ==TheNextDay==**

Joseph swept the interior of the gift shop just like Stan had ordered. He was all alone since Wendy went away for her break an hour ago and still haven't reappeared. Sometimes he wondered if Stan was some type of dirty old man who employed the redhead just to have her around, because she barely did any work and almost always left early. There was no other explanation as to why he didn't fire her already.

Or maybe, his fellow teen just took advantage of the fact that Stand hated him and was his newest pack mule.

' _Can't say I wouldn't have done the same_.'

Despite of the monotony of the work and the unfairness of the situation Joseph didn't voice any of his usual complains, he couldn't muster it since that morning Mabel had recovered from whatever funk she had been and was back to be all smiles and rainbows.

Joseph usually found that type of things somewhat unbearable, but Mabel's cheerful attitude and care-free nature really had grown on him, and he was happy that she was back to normal.

Suddenly the phone besides the cash register rang snapping Jojo back to reality. Seeing as Wendy wasn't there to do her job, Joseph went up to the counter and picked-up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Toby Determined, Gravity Falls Gossiper." The voice on the other end talked with that distinctively annoying tone that was unique to Toby's.

"Oh hey Mr. Cardbaord Cut-Out Kisser! How've you been? Still a criminal against human decency?" Joseph would never let Toby live down the fact he kissed the cardboard cut-out of REAL news reporter Shandra Jimenez. Of the very few things he agreed with Stan was that no one owe the little creep an ounce of respect. "Sorry of accusing you of being a murderer by the way." Not.

After a whole 20 seconds of pregnant silence Toby finally answered.

"Water under the bridge! Say, we want to interview you and your little friend Dipper Pines."

"What for?"

"You see, you are slowly becoming quite the talk among the visitors of the Mystery Shack and our female reader would love to read about you to know you better."

"And Dipper?"

"Him? We want to ask him about his thoughts about the town and if he had seen anything unusual for our new debuting section on the paper."

"I see…"

"What about a meeting? Let's say, 412 Gopher Road."

"412 Gopher Road, got it!"

And with that Jojo finally hung the pone ending the call. Just in time for Dipper to come by and ask him.

"What was that all about?" He probably overheard part of the conversation and was interested to know since his name was mentioned.

"Toby Determined. He wants to interview me for some sort of "personal look into the life of" article, and you for your opinions and thought about the strange happening in town."

"Really? That's awesome!" He cried excited for the possibility of finally sharing his theories to a readership that cared to hear. A shame that Jojo had to put a stop to that.

"Not awesome. More like a set-up!" He announced somewhat over-dramatically. I mean, how many opportunities does one have to say something like that in their lives? "I can smell it form a mile away!"

"Do you think he wants revenge for trying to incriminate him of murder?" Dipper proposed worriedly. He wasn't ready to deal with a vendetta of the so-called newsman.

"I don't know, if that was the case he would've ask for Mabel to come as well." She was also there when the accusation and arrest attempt began. "But he only asked for the two of us." Who could them both angered in the last couple of days?

"What about Manly Dan." Dipper offered. "Maybe he wants revenge for defeating him in arm-wrestling?"

"Perhaps, but he doesn't look like the type of guy who would try this sort of underhanded attempt of a trap." If anything Joseph expected the man to kick open the door and scream his demand for a rematch.

"Well, whoever it is, what are we gonna do about it?" If this was a trap then they better think up of a strategy to help them confront whoever…

"Accept the invitation of course!" Joseph answered with a toothy grin.

"What?!"

"Look Dipper, we don't know who this might be or their motives, nor we know what they are capable of with we do not fall for their set-up. They could try going after Mabel just to get at us."

"I'll never let them do such a thing!"

"Neither do I, so that is why we are gonna go for it." Joseph then placed a hand on Dipper's shoulder to reassure him. "So don't worry too much, since we know it is a trap that gives us an edge."

"But what if they have a weapon?"

"And I have Hamon!" Joseph lifted his fist as it sparked with wave energy. "Besides I dealt with punks with weapons before! Haven't I told you about the time I stop some armed robbers from kidnapping my Uncle Speedwagon?"

"No!" Dipper responded both alarmed and intrigued at the same time.

"How about we prepare for this meeting and I tell you all about it!"

**< ==LaterThatEvening==**

Both Dipper and Joseph arrived at the designated place of the meeting: 412 Gopher Road.

"Seriously, who came up with the names of the streets and roads?" Joseph wondered out-loud.

_< ==Meanwhile==_

Inside a hidden cave underground the block of solid peanut brittle that trapped the body of Quentin Trembley, the eighth-and-a-half President of the United States, shook a little.

Almost as if it had sneezed.

_< ==412GopherRoad==_

"Remember the plan?" Joseph looked down to Dipper.

"You go in and kick ass and I stay behind monitoring the situation as back-up just in case." Dipper relayed the plan while rising up a can of Bear Mace. It didn't quite have the same punch as regular pepper spray, but it still worked well enough to disorient an enemy.

"Don't forget the cellphone to call the police or an ambulance for these guys after I'm done with them." Joseph said confidently as he cracked his knuckles reading for a rumble.

"Be safe."

"I always am."

And with confident steps Joseph entered the large warehouse building.

"I'm here!" Joseph announcement echoed through the whole place which was near pitch black. "Anyone here?" He stepped forward, he knew someone was waiting for him and could attack in any second.

Suddenly the door behind him closed seemingly by itself, startling Joseph a bit.

"This is a strange place for an interview." Jojo joked, wondering how much theatrics would be before the guy revealed himself.

And as if his words were magic, the lights turned on in sequence revealing a swirling chair at the other end of the warehouse.

"Hello friend." The distinctive voice of Gideon broke the came before the chair swerved around to reveal the tiny psychic.

"Gideon?!" Jojo was honestly surprised, why would wittle ol' Gideon want to set up a meeting like this?

"Joseph Joestar. How long have been livin' in this town? A week, two? You like it here? Enjoy the scenery?" The Young Psychic asked like they were having small-talk, but it was quite obvious there was an ominous edge underneath his words.

"What is this all about?" Joseph cut to the chase; he really didn't want to spend his evening waiting for the boy to finish his theatrics.

"You know damn well what this is about!" The boy answered with barely contained rage, yet what betrayed him the most were his eyes full of fury.

"Is this about Mabel?" Because she was the only connection that had any relevance between the two of them that he could think of. "I'm sorry that she broke off with you, but this sort of things just happen."

"LIAR! YOU took her away from me!" He accused while jumping off the chair in an attempt to look intimidating, which failed against Joseph who was literally twice as big as the little boy. "She is MY peach dumplin'!"

' _Oh boy, he is one of **those**._ ' Yeah, one of those guys who really, REALLY couldn't handle a break-up and they start blaming everyone and everything around for their problems. Joseph's only alternative was to defuse the situation and help the boy see reason. "Look Gideon, getting angry won't solve-"

"Shut it!" Gideon cut him off and used his amulet to levitate the Englishboy from the ground and sent him flying towards one of the many boxes that this building housed.

"What the-?!" Sitting on the floor with his back against a dented box, the teen couldn't believe what just happened.

"Readin' minds isn't all I can do."Gideon said with a creepy smile, enjoying the power he wielded over his much larger opponent.

"You have actual powers?!" Joseph was dumbfounded he never expected Gideon to have such abilities. He believed he was just a performer that scammed people with cold reading.

"Surprised? You haven't seen anything yet." And with a simple gesture of his arm he opened the boxes in the warehouse and levitated every single piece of merchandize imaginable.

"Holy SH*T!" Ok, maybe he was little over his head on this one, but he could think of something get out of this jam right? Besides he still had Dipper as back-up who could call for help and…

"Leave him alone!"

Or he could just jump right into the fray with little to no regard to how serious the situation actually was.

"Oh that's cute." Gideon mocked as he used his powers to levitate Dipper and disarm him of the Bear Spray. "I thought you decided not to come. Well, you save the effort of looking for you."

"Put him down!" Joseph demanded as he stood up from the floor ready to fight Gideon even if he was just a little kid.

"As you wish!" The psychic used his powers to throw Dipper towards Joseph; thankfully the teen had been ready to catch him before he could get hurt. "You two will pay for what you did."

"What did we do?" Dipper demanded a clear answer.

"YOU help turn Mabel against me!" Gideon shouted with an ugly sneer adorning his chubby face.

"You did that yourself!" Dipper retorted. "You made her uncomfortable with your advances!"

"LIES!" The little boy continued to shout as he threw heavy boxes and pieces of merchandize towards them.

"Dodge!" Joseph commanded as he help swap away some of the random projectiles. "To the door!" he had no plan but to escape out of there and hope they could think of a way of dealing with Gideon.

"You're not going anywhere!" Gideon picked them up and then launched them to opposite side of the warehouse making them crash into more merchandize.

"Grunkle Stan was right about you, you ARE a monster!" Dipper managed to shout despite the pain he was feeling from the crash.

"Mabel is mine!" Gideon responded not even registering Dipper's words anymore.

On the other side, Joseph was looking around the sprawled merchandize for something he could use to stop Gideon or could allow them to escape from him yet nothing seemed useful.

"Dolls, coffee cups, pins, nothing but garbage!" Frustrated he threw everything around until his hand fell upon something unexpected. "What the-?!"

They were a pair of plastic balls connected via a black string; it reminded him of the throwing weapon known as Bolas, but these were far smaller.

"Clackers? I thought these were banned in several states." Apparently they were legal in Oregon, who knew! "Plastic doesn't conduct Hamon very well." If only the balls were made of metal, then they could store some the energy in them but with these he found the Ripples would only travel through the string.

"It's better than nothing!" Turning around, he saw Dipper desperately charging towards Gideon with a baseball bat, but he was only being toyed with, and ended up being disarmed and levitated one more.

"She's never gonna date you, man!" Especially not now when the little creep has shown them his true colors.

"I don't want to hear more of your lies!" Then his eyes fell upon something rather useful. "I'll make sure you never lie to me ever again." He levitated a pair of lamb sheers. "Now open that mouth of yours!"

"DIPPER!" Joseph screamed in panic. He couldn't let the poor boy get hurt much less mutilated, otherwise he could never forgive himself. Acting out of instinct alone, he charged the clackers with Hamon as he threw them. The wave energy tensed the string making it far easier to throw and travel farther than normal.

Unfortunately Joseph's cry alerted Gideon of the teen's attack. Gideon managed to barely lean out of the way making the hard clacker balls graze him and leave a red hot mark on the side of the face. This was enough to break the little psychic's concentration and his grip over Dipper and the shears.

"Y-YOU…YOU DARED HURT MY BEAUTIFUL FACE?!" Forgetting all about Dipper, Gideon concentrated his fury solely on Joseph. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, YOU **FILTHY TEABAG**!"

"I'll have you know that I prefer American Coffee over Tea, you **Tosser**!" Joseph shot back, not appreciating the slur or the stereotyping.

"SHUT UP!" Gideon concentrated the power of the amulet to grab Joseph slammed him into the wall.

"AHG!" Jojo yelped as he felt intense pain on his back.

"You want more? Take this!" Gideon lifted him up again and slammed him into the ceiling and then unto the floor.

"JOSEPH!" Dipper cried from the floor looking up at his friend being tossed around the place like a rag dog. "STOP IT, YOU'LL KILL HIM!"

"That's the plan!" The little creep mocked as he held Joseph up in the air, inspecting his handiwork and enjoying the pained look on the Brit's face.

 _'Impossible, I can´t…!'_ He thought frantically. After being grabbed Joseph tried to use Hamon to stick to the wall to avoid being toss around or to energize his muscles to overpower the invisible grip and break free, but none of it worked.

 _'Useless, my Hamon is useless!'_ And even if it were to work, his breathing was ragged which made it impossible to properly generate Hamon. "D-Dip…per…" He barely managed to utter between his labored panting and the pain he was feeling. "run…away…!"

"No! I can't leave you behind!" Any other time, Jojo would've admired and respected the boy's loyalty and bravery but in the current conditions he thought of him as the biggest fool.

"Dip-ack!" But his pleads were interrupted when he felt the force start to tighten around his throat.

"JOSEPH!" Dipper cried once more before glaring at Gideon. "Leave him alone!"

"Don't you fret, my friend!" Gideon answered too all too giddy. "Once I'm done with him, you are next."

"NO!" Dipper was trembling, the sheer hopelessness of the situation finally getting to him, making him despair. _'I have to think of something!'_ Joseph had named him the brains of the team, yet nothing came to mind. Angered he smacked a fist unto the floor. _'What am I even good for?'_

Everything was looking bleak for the two heroes.

That is until a very familiar voice shouted through the warehouse.

"Gideon! We have to talk!"

It was Mabel, the best (or worst depending on who you asked) person that could've shown up in that precise moment.

"M-Mabel. My marshmalla." Gideon greeted surprised by her sudden appearance while trying to recover some composure. Even so his invisible grip on the still floating Joseph remained. "What are you doin' here?"

"I'm sorry Gideon, but I can't be your marshmallow. I needed to be honest and tell you that myself." She began sounding too calm for the situation she had stumbled in.

"I-I don't understand." Gideon squeezed his bolo tie harder, the same way his little heart was been squeezed by her words, while subconsciously squeezing Joseph even tighter too.

"Mabel! This isn't the best time to be brutally honest with him!" Her brother reprimanded her, very obviously worried about the choking teen still in mid-air.

Seemingly ignoring Dipper, Mabel approached Gideon and took his hands unto hers. "Hey, but we can still be makeover buddies, right? Wouldn't you like that?"

No, not really. Gideon wanted Mabel for himself, but having her lovingly touching hands with him was enough to melt him like butter. "Really?"

That was the exact reaction Mabel was hoping for.

"No, not really!" In one fluid motion she was able to swipe the amulet away from him, rendering him powerless. The sudden lost of his powers meant that Joseph was finally free and ended up falling into the floor desperately gasping for air with only one thought on his mind.

_'F*** you Gideon. Just, f*** you!'_

"You were like, attacking my family, what the heck?!" Whatever guilt Mabel may have been feeling before back in the Shack where she had a heart-to-heart with Wendy about her break-up disappeared the instant she saw Gideon threaten to kill her loved ones.

"My tie! Give it back!" He frantically tried to snatch back his amulet, otherwise he would remain with no means of defense or to enact his revenge, but Mabel decided to throw the bolo tie away and towards Dipper who caught it without difficulty.

"Not so powerful without this, are you?" Dipper teased feeling justified to do so after the trashing both he and Joseph just received. He had expected insults, pleads or even begrudging surrender; not the little troll screeching and ramming them both throw the window, making Dipper lose the grip on the amulet before the two of them began falling down the cliff.

"DIPPER!" Mabel was the first one to react and quickly scoped the bolo tie and jumped the window after her brother.

"MABEL NO!" With barely any strength left, Joseph ran towards the window horrified at her suicidal actions. He knew the building had been on top of a tall cliff and that a fall of that height would most likely kill anyone.

For the first time in many years he prayed to God, asking him to save the both of them.

Looking down the broken window, he saw not a ghastly scene of mangled bodies, but the miracle he had asked for. Both Mable and Dipper were fine, a Gideon too for that matter, thanks to Mabel unexpected ability to use the amulet to levitate the three of them down to the floor, and Joseph released a sigh of utter relief he had been holding before he slumped back against the wall and fall on the floor, the last of his energy and adrenaline finally fading away.

"Thank god they're okay…"

**く==20MinutesLater==**

Joseph was stirred awake by the sound of Mabel's cries.

"JoJo! Please wake up!"

"Mabel! Don't shake him! Don't you see he's hurt?"

"Please open your eyes!"

"Mabel!"

"Hey, can't a guy have five minutes of sleep around here." Joseph interrupted the soon to become bickering, slowly opening his eyes which felt real heavy at that moment.

"JoJo! Are you okay?" Mabel asked with worry written all over her face.

"I'm fine. I'm no stranger of having my arse kicked." The downed teen try to make light of the situation despite the terrible soreness and pain he was feeling.

"I thought you said you never lose." Mabel said a little less serious than before.

"I can get beat up and still win you know." He wanted to laugh but it hurt too much to even try. "What about you guys? You Ok? "

"Mabel is completely fine and I just got some bruises and some sore muscles." He got away rather unscathed, even more so since the one Gideon was aiming for was Joseph.

"Good to hear, arhg!" Joseph winced in sudden pain.

"Joseph! Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere." Was Joseph's attempt of a cheeky answer.

"Can you use your Ripple Breathing? To make the pain go away."

"I can try."

What followed where several minutes of tense silence where the only sound was Joseph's efforts to perform his Hamon Breathing. It took a while but he managed to dull the pain enough for him to stand back up, even so he would still feel like crap in the morning.

"Are you sure you don't need a hospital?" Mabel asked worried. She believed in Joseph but she wanted to make sure there really wasn't anything wrong with him.

"I'll be fine, although I might miss work tomorrow." He only hoped that Stan wasn't an ass about it. "Come one, I'll walk you home and on the way you can tell me what happened with Gideon." Before he lost consciousness he remembered he was spared of becoming a smear on the floor.

As they made their way back to the Mystery Shack, the twins told them that after landing safely, Mable renounced any friendship or feelings she had for the little creep and destroy his amulet so he could never use its powers ever again only to have him swear revenge against the Pines Family and Joseph before disappearing into the woods.

"So we won at the end!" Dipper said, although to him it didn't feel like one. "I still feel that we should've gone after him and maybe report him to the authorities."

"They wouldn't believe us though." Joseph pointed out in a solemn tone. Not only did they have no evidence of what happened or proof that Gideon could use "Magic" to try and killed them, the Psychic was the town newest sweetheart and idol so it was his words against them. In fact they were lucky that Gideon hadn't decided to call the cops on them instead.

"This totally sucks!" Mabel complained the unfairness of it all.

"I know."

After what felt like a eternal trek for Joseph, they finally made it to the Shack. Unfortunately that was only the half-way point for the English boy who still had to walk all the way back to Abuelita's.

"Thanks for being here for us Joseph." Dipper said grateful for everything his friend did that night.

"No problem Dib, and thanks for sticking up for me." Joseph then pulled his fist up as a signal and Dipper follow up with his for an epic manly fist bump of respect. That was before Joseph grabbed him and drilled his knuckles on top of his head through the hat. "But next time; think things through before jumping to help!"

"Ok, ok! I promise." Satisfied by that answered, JoJo finally let him go. "Good night, Joseph!"

"Good night Dipper." Joseph waved him goodbye before he turned towards Mabel. "Can I speak with you for sec, Mabel?"

"Of course." She answered as she too waved her brother waiting for him to go in so she could be alone with Jojo. "So what's up?"

"Mabel…" Joseph began somewhat hesitant as he knelt down so they could see eye to eye. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She was honestly confused by the sudden apology, as far as she knew he had nothing to apologize for. "I-I should be the one who has to apologize." She said with a sudden tremble in her voice. She didn't want to think about it before, but now it was impossible not to. It was her fault that Dipper and Joseph were hurt by Gideon.

"Don't ever think this is your fault Mabel." He put a stop to those thoughts immediately. "These injuries are mine alone."

"But you…!" She tried to retort but she was silenced by the older boy when he placed a finger up to her lips, which caused her to blush a bit by the sudden contact.

"I was the one who walked Dipper and I into Gideon's hands, knowing it was a trap." He had been so confident he could take anyone on with his wits and his abilities with Hamon, but after tonight he wasn't so sure now if that was ever enough. "Because of my cockiness I put your brother in danger's way even though I promised to protect him and you, and for that I want to ask for your forgiveness."

"Jo-JoJo…" Tears began falling from her eyes and dripping into the floor like miniature cascades. How could she not accept his apologies and forgive him after such honest words and repentant look on his face? Not being able to hold back her feelings she burrowed her face into his chest and sob softly, while Joseph's strong arms enveloped her in a tender hug.

She had a dream like this once, except that in it she hadn't been crying and JoJo didn't looked so upset or injured. It was ironic how her dreams of being in his arms came true and she couldn't enjoy it one bit.

After what felt like forever, Mabel finally stopped sobbing while her eyes remained a little red from all the crying, while Joseph looked far more composed but the hurt in his eyes betrayed his cool exterior and the hug came to an end.

"I forgive you Jo-Joseph…" She finally said just in case so there weren't any doubts about it. "I could never stay mad at you." Even though she never felt mad at him in the first place.

"Glad to hear."He gave her a small smile, that she secretly found adorable. "Also I wanted to talk to you about something." He dropped the smile but didn't sound as serious as when he was asking for forgiveness.

"Yes?"

"I while ago while I was sweeping I couldn't help but overhear you and Dipper talk about something…" He said cautiously trying to slowly bring in the subject, but it had the opposite effect of what he intended.

 _'He overheard us?'_ Mabel was internally panicking. Fearing that he might've overhear them talking about how she had a crush on him! She was mortified. What would he think of her? How would this revelation change things between them? And more importantly, could he ever return her feelings?

She began trembling in anticipation and trepidation.

"Yes, I heard about how you have been feeling left out when we all hang together in the Shack." Joseph finally said, putting a sudden stop at her wild thoughts and imagination.

"W-What?" For a second she didn't know if to feel relieved that her crush on his remained secret of disappointed for how underwhelming the reveal was.

"About how you never get to do the things you like that are girly, yes?" Joseph reminded her, totally unaware of her internal dilemma.

"Uh-huh…" She could recalled saying something like that, yes.

"Well, I'm not exactly fond of things that are very girly, but I wouldn't mind doing them with you." If only to not have her feel forgotten and left out. "If you want we can… I don't know… do each other's hair and stuff."

"Really?" She asked excited by the prospect. For the longest time since she had arrived she wanted someone whom she could fix and style hair with. Not to mention she also had been daydreaming of caressing that long luscious hair of his too. "We can do make-up, manicure and knit sweaters too?"

"S-sure, whatever you like." Joseph confirmed trying his best to keep his doubts and second thoughts of what he was getting into away for Mabel's sake.

"Oh my gosh JoJo, you are the best!" She hug him once more making him wince in pain.

"D-Don't I k-know it." Despite the pain he was glad that he could brighten her day. "You better get inside, it's getting late." And he still needed to walk all the way to Soos' house.

"Wait! Before you go I got something for you." Mabel rummaged through her pockets before she pulled a familiar-looking toy.

"Clackers?"

"The same one's you used on Gideon." She clarified. "I want to give you these back. As a trophy for tonight. "

"But I didn't even stop Gideon with these." In fact he wanted to say how they weren't very useful at all, but Mabel interrupted with a shake of her head.

"But you still saved Dipper with them. I think that makes them very special."

"I guess you're right." Joseph smiled looking at the toy with new found respect. "Thanks for the gift Mabel."

"Thank you for being here with us." Mabel said as he leaned in an placed a quick kiss on his cheek before she quickly turned around. "Goodnight JoJo!" And rushed towards the house, not wanting him to see how red she had become after that.

"Good night." He waved, not seeing too deeply into the gesture. He supposed that she was grateful for helping save his brother despite she being the one who saved them both in them end.

The trip back to Soos' felt much longer than ever thanks to his sore muscles and troubling thoughts circling though his head.

Hamon, his ace in the hole for getting him out of tight situation had not only failed, but it was useless against Gideon; had it not been for some extremely good luck on their part both Dipper and him would've died for sure.

Joseph should be the one who protected them, not the other way around and he failed to live-up to his promise. They had been lucky this time, but next time they were in a jam who knows what could happen? And if Dipper or Mabel were seriously hurt and he could've done something to prevent it, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"I'm not strong enough."

**< ==ToBeContinued==**

_I'll be the roundabout  
The words will make you out 'n' out…_

『 **Ciphers** 』

『Gywox vyfon dy drbyg wyxoi kd Oxqvscr lyi'c xkuon dybcy wybo cy drkx wox.』

『Wkxi zoyzvo drsxu dro zywzknyeb rksbcdivo sc fobi yvn-pkcrsyxon.』

 

『L nwzdp nlww htes oples mctyrd qzces yph opepcxtyletzy.』

『Uzdpas'd yph epnsytbfp: Esp Nwlnvpc Mzzxpclyr.』

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was two chapters now joined into one.
> 
> Not many changes from the actual canon, but very significant ones. Attitudes, motivations and character relationships are now changed forever.


	9. 『Dead Man's Store』

It had been a couple of days after the whole Gideon's fiasco and everything was back to normal. Well, everything except one person: Joseph.

Although he smiled, laughed and acted as his usual self, there were moments when he would get this melancholic look on his face when he thought nobody was looking . Nobody commented on this thinking it was something that would pass soon enough, but Mabel was beginning to worry that there was something actually wrong with him.

So in her own way of helping she decided to teach him how to knit.

Currently they were in the gift shop sitting next to each other as she taught him the simple cast on technique of the backwards loop.

"So finally you just pull that loop tight by pulling on the working yarn, and there you have it, your first stitch!" She clapped cheering his accomplishment.

"Honestly, those grannies made this look far easier than it really is." There were like 10 steps just to make the first stitch! That's why they get so angry when people do not wear their hand-made clothing; it was a LOT of hard work! Something he wasn't very fond of, but was learning to tolerate the more he worked at the Shack.

"That's because they have lots of experience!" Mabel explained. "If you keep practicing soon you won't have to think about the steps; they will become like second nature." She herself could practically knit in her sleep, although the last time she tried she had gotten the color patterns mixed.

"And you said that you make a sweater in just one day!" Joseph was really surprised when she told him that she made her own sweaters and she made one each day to wear on the next. "You must have some sort of gift."

"Oh you charmer!" She punched him lightly on the shoulder, despite enjoying his multiple compliments ever since they started. But their little scene was rudely interrupted by Dipper, who was sitting next to the counter reading that journal he found in the woods.

"Mabel, do you believe in ghosts?" He asked not even taking his eyes away from the book.

"I believe you are a big dork." She responded, slightly annoyed for his interruption. But before anyone could say anything else, Stan entered the gift shop from the outside.

"Soos! Wendy! Joe!" He called them out.

Joseph stood up, Wendy just looked up from her magazine and Soos came in running.

"What's up Mr. Pines." Soos saluted.

"I'm headin' out. You three are gonna wash the bathrooms, right?" He reminded them despite the fact that he never asked any of them in the first place. And just where was he going with such urgency?

"Yes, sir!" Soos, the ever loyal worker.

"Whatever." Joseph, the resigned teen in need of money.

"Absolutely not!" Wendy, the slacker.

"Ha ha! You stay out of trouble!" The showman warned before slamming the door as he left to wherever he was going.

Now that the boss was out of sight, Wendy saw the opportunity to avoid even more her work. "Hey guys! What's this?" She walked up to a curtain and unveiled a ladder behind it. "A secret ladder to the roof?"

' _What secret?_ ' Joseph thought. It had been hidden behind just curtain in a place where such thing stood up like a sore thumb.

"Uh, I don't think Mr. Pines would like that." Soos was quick to point out, and though JoJo disliked agreeing in respect to Stan, Soos was right.

"Soos' right." The English boy nodded besides the handyman. "Just do your work Wendy."

"Pfft. If you want to be a bore and do chores more power to you. This girl is gonna chill." The redhead pointed both her thumbs at herself, "who wants to come with me?" She then turned towards the twins who looked excited at the proposition.

"Can we actually go up there?" Dipper said thrilled, usually roofs were out limits for Mable and him because of the height and how dangerous it was.

"Sure we can! Roof time! Roof time!" She encouraged them by pumping her fist up and down as she began climbing up and of course Dipper followed.

"Roof time! Roof time!"

Next to Joseph, Mabel looked like she wanted to follow too, but something was holding her back.

"You can go if you want to." JoJo said suspecting it was because of him.

"But what about…?"

"I got a job to do. You go have fun with Dipper and Wendy." He gave her a small smile to show that it was fine. "Just be careful up there, ok?"

"Okay." Though she was happy she could join Dipper and Wendy on the fun, she felt that it would've been a lot better if JoJo joined in as well.

"You can go with them if you want to." Soos suddenly said once Mabel was out of sight. "I don't mind cleaning the bathrooms by myself."

"Thanks, but no thanks. It is my job after all." The teen declined with a shake of his head.

"Are you ok, dude?" The handyman asked concerned. "I mean, you always complain about Stan working you hard, but lately you've been like…'whatever' and stuff."

"It's just personal stuff." Joseph answered honestly but vague at the same time. "It's something I have to sort of by myself, you know." He really must have been acting off if someone had managed to notice; could the others also noticed but hadn't said anything about it yet?

"Ok, but remember you have me and my repair skills if you need anything, dude." Soos offered his support and a raised fist.

"You know it man." Joseph smiled and give him a fist bump. "Come on, let's get this disgusting job over with."

**く** **==OnTheRoof==**

Wendy's spot on the rooftop was indeed a cool place of hang around. There was an umbrella for the sun, a lounge chair to relax on and a cooler with drinks in it. And for a little fun there was a bucket full of pine cones that they used for target practice to hit a target placed on the big totem outside the shack.

The fun lasted just a few minutes before it was interrupted by a van driving up to the shack playing loud music on the stereo. "Wendy!" It was Wendy's teenager friends.

"Hey, you guys aren't going to tell Stan about this, are you?"

Dipper was the first to answer, by making a zipping motion with his hand and lips eager to comply. And Wendy, glad that she could count on them to keep silence, returned the motion.

"Later dorks!" She waved goodbye before jumping from the roof to the tip of a tree that bent down to a small tree which she also used to bring her back to the floor safe and sound right next to the van what awaited her with an open side door.

Needless to say that was one of the coolest things Dipper had ever seen her do. "Later Wendy!" He shouted a little too excited to escape Mabel's notice. "Heh heh heh! Good times!"

"Uh, oh!" Mabel gave him a knowing look. "Somebody's in love!"

"Yeah, right! I just think Wendy's cool, okay?" He said defensively trying to play away the strange butterflies he felt within his stomach. "It's not like I lie awake at night thinking about her!"

**く** **==LaterThatNight==**

Dipper was in bed wide awake in the middle of the night with only one thing in his mind that kept him from falling asleep.

"Uh-oh."

He turned to his side trying to find a more comfortable position, when his eyes fell upon the sleeping form of his sister.

_'She has a much bigger crush than me, how can she fall asleep so easily?'_

And as if she had somehow been able to read his mind, she began mumbling in her sleep, while hugging her pillow close to her.

"Mm…Jo…Jo…"

So she could see Joseph in her dreams.

"Of course."

**く** **==EarlierBackOnTheRoof==**

"Besides, you are the one to talk," Dipper crossed his armed defensively. "You have a big crush on Joseph!"

"Yes, and I'm not afraid to admit it!" She puffed up her chest proudly.

"But only when he's not around though." Her brother pointed out, much to her chagrin.

"Doesn't matter! I'm already making good progress working my way into his heart, and soon I may be able to ask him out!" She announced very sure of herself. Ever since Joseph made his promise, they had been spending some more time together, and she was taking this as an opportunity to water and tend the seeds of friendship, and with time and dedication they might bloom into flowers of romance!

It was the perfect plan.

"Yeah right." Dipper rolled his eyes. Though he usually supported her sisters in many of her crazy endeavors, her plan to woo Joseph could only led to disappointment. "Good luck with that."

"Thank you very much." She nodded not registering his ironic tone, or maybe she just didn't let it bother her.

"Ok then, I'll go back down, maybe watch some T.V." Maybe he could catch an episode of Duck-tective. "Want a come?"

"Thanks but I think I'll wait for JoJo to finish work, we still have a knitting lesson to complete!" And in the meantime she could work on her sweater for tomorrow.

"Ok, have fun with that."

**く** **==HalfAnHourLater==**

Mabel was enjoying the view from on top of the Shack while knitting. It was a nice view and one where she could relax and work on without distractions and thanks to it she was half-way done with her sweater for the next day; and maybe when she was finished, she could work on making a matching scarf for Joseph, who was a fan of the garment.

Suddenly she caught sight of Joseph walking away from the Shack and into the woods.

"Where is he going?" She wondered out-loud as she put down her half-finished sweater. She didn't need second thoughts before she decided to go follow him. With how unusual he had been action lately she had reason to be worried about him after all.

Following Joseph trail was easy enough, and not so long after Mabel managed to find him in a clearing punching a giant rock of all things.

 **"OVERDRIVE!"** He shouted as he delivered a powerful strike against the rock, while his fist sparked by the power of his Wave Energy.

Whatever result he got, it wasn't the one he expected, or so thought Mabel seeing the look on his face. But that wasn't the end of it, because Joseph then punched the rock again with his other fist.

**"OVERDRIVE!"**

That was when she realized that he come all the way here to train his Wave Energy.

**"OVERDRIVE!"**

Exactly he was training for she had no idea, but the sheer look of concentration on his face made her remain hidden, not wanting to interrupt him. So she remained quiet watching him punch the rock over and over again.

**"HAMON KICK!"**

After a while Joseph changed from his fists to his legs delivering powerful kicks to the defenseless rock. This continued for some more time until Joseph finally called it quits.

"It's useless!" Joseph growled looking at the rock with disdain. "Why can't I split this rock?" Split it? All this time Mabel thought he had being trying to break into pieces. "Speedwagon said my grandpa could do it, so why can't I?!"

 _'Joseph…'_ She didn't know why he wanted to learn how to split rocks, but it was obvious he was getting frustrated at his failure.

"I need to be stronger! My Hamon needs to be stronger!" He clenched his fists which looked in a pretty bad shape after all the abuse they endure. "I can't afford to be weak! I have to be strong to protect them! To protect Dipper and Mabel!"

Mabel put both hands over her mouth to stop herself from gasping. _'He is doing this for us?!'_ then she recalled his words on the night after they escaped Gideon.

 _"I put your brother in danger's way even though I promised to protect him and you…"_ That was reason why decided to stay in Gravity Falls and work for Grunkle Stan; because he knew about the strangeness of the town and how dangerous it could be.

 _'Gideon and his Amulet being the worst we've encountered so far.'_ Dipper told her about what happened with Gideon and how he threatened to cut off her brother's tongue or how he almost killed Joseph by slamming him over and over the place. It was thank to her timely appearance that they managed to get away with their lives and organs intact.

' _The only thing that was damaged was JoJo's confidence._ ' His use of Wave Energy was his ace up his sleeve yet was next to useless against Gideon. Failing to stop Gideon must've made him realize that he wasn't as strong as he thought nor as he needed to be.

 _'That's why he's been so gloomy lately.'_ He must've been worrying thinking up ways to become stronger all by himself, since there wasn't any other "Hermit Wizard" master around that were willing to teach him.

**く** **==MeanwhileInVenice==**

A beautiful woman with long brown hair sneezed in the middle of her lesson with her recently acquired student.

"You aren't getting sick, are you Coach?"

"No, I'm fine."

**く** **==BackInGravityFalls==**

Mabel decided to leave Joseph alone, not wanting him to know she had spied on him in what was a very private moment for him. So she tracked back to the Shack and completing the knitting lesson for the day already forgotten.

 _'There's gotta be something I can do.'_ There better be, because she couldn't stand seeing him so gloomy and sad. _'Even though I can't help with his training of Wave Energy, I will find a way to cheer him up.'_ Because if there was one thing she never gave up with was brighten someone's day.

**く** **==TheVeryNextDay==**

"RANDOM DANCE PARTY FOR NO REASON!" Mabel announced right before she hit play on a boombox. As the music blared she started dancing followed by Wendy who chanted."GO! GO! GO! GO!" to the beat of the music.

Without stopping she turned towards Joseph who just watched from the side with mild amusement. "Come on JoJo join in!"

"I guess, only if Dipper also joins." He looked towards the boy who was writing on clipboard for some reason.

"Uh? Me!?" He asked startled, quickly hiding the clipboard from view.

"Yeah Dipper, aren't you gonna get on this?" Wendy asked this time, having fun.

"I don't really dance." He excused himself from joining not wanting to embarrass himself in front of Wendy.

"Really? Because I thought you knew this dance performed in a silly costume or something." The teen looked at the younger boy with a large toothy grin.

"Mabel told you about _The Lamby Dance_?!" Dipper asked looking scandalized that the secret got out.

"No, it was you; just now." Thought impossible, but Joseph's grin grew three sizes, enjoying the look of horror and shame on Dipper's face.

"OOOHHH! He got you good, bro-bro!" Mabel had to admit that was such a good burn.

"Yo, what's Lamby Dance?" Wendy asked wanting to get in on the joke.

"Mom used to dress him up in a lamb costume and…" Mabel began but was quickly cut off by Dipper through grinding teeth.

" _Now is not the time to talk about the Lamby Dance_." If looks could kill he would've been short of a sister.

"Lamb costume? Wow, is there like little ears and a tail or...?" Wendy turned to look at Dipper who could only mumble.

"Well uh, uh..."

"Dipper would prance around and sing a song about grazing." And to add insult to injury, Mabel pulled out a small picture of little Dipper in said lamb costume.

"Oh now that's precious." Joseph said trying to not to laugh, not at the picture but at Dipper's expression that was asking the earth itself to swallow him.

Luckily for the blushing Dipper, the teasing came to a stop when the clock made a cuckoo sound signaling it was 6 o'clock.

"Hey, look at that! Quittin' time! The gang's waitin' for me." Wendy announced all too happy to finally be done with her shift. Something JoJo was quick to point out.

"Oh! Would you look at that! Wendy actually staying 'till the end of her shift, what a rare sight."

"Don't you start, you!"

What wasn't a rare sight was Joseph and Wendy acting like they hated each other, throwing subtle insults and backhanded compliments back and forward, but it was all in good fun, right?

Noticing (or maybe he actually didn't notice) the room's sudden shift in mood, Dipper was quick to ask Wendy. "Say! Why don't I-or we come with you?"

"Ooh... I don't know." Wendy said slightly hesitant, but Mabel also chimed in, much to her brother's surprise.

"Oh! That's a great idea!" then she turned towards the other teen in the room. "And JoJo should come along too."

"Wait what?" Said teen looked at her confused.

"My friends are pretty intense. How old did you guys say you are?"

"We're thirteen! So, technically a teen." Dipper told, happy that Wendy was considering taking them along.

"Yep, totally thirteen!" Mabel agreed with a smile and a thumps up.

"All right. I like your moxy, kids!"She ended up agreeing seeing as there weren't anything to object to, "Just let me get my stuff." And with that she exited the shop, prompting Joseph to ask.

"Since when are you guys thirteen?" It was rhetorical of course. He remembered when they first met and the twins told him that their birthday was August 31st, at the end of the Summer Break.

"Come on, Joseph. This is our chance to hang out with, you know, the cool kids. And Wendy and whatever." Dipper explained which caused JoJo to raise an eyebrow.

"Okay…" He understood Dippers reason; kids always liked to hang around with bigger kids to feel cool and all, "So Mabel, what about you?" but that didn't explained why Mabel wanted to go along with the lie and drag him along too.

"I thought it sounded like fun!" Of course, Joseph thought. "Besides, I-I noticed you been gloomy lately and thought that this might cheer you up!"

 _'So they did notice.'_ The Teen grimaced. He didn't want them fussing over him, since this was something he had to do so on his own. "I don't know, I was planning of going to Soos' home and watch the black and white period piece classic _The Duchess Approves_ , with Abuelita." Sure it was an incredibly long and somewhat boring movie, but it was one of those movies Granny Erina liked to watch and forced him to watch along with her. ' _Man, I should call Granny Erina soon._ '

"Come one JoJo, it will be fun!" Dipper and Mabel pleaded.

 _'Even so…'_ if Dipper was insistent on going and Mabel followed…, "Fine I'll go as well." What other option did he have, really? It wasn't like he could trust Wendy of all people to look after the twins, especially if she was going to be distracted with her friends.

"Yes!" Dipper pumped his fist while Mabel clapped.

"You will not regret this, I promise."

_'I sure hope so.'_

Joseph was the first one to admit that he wasn't the type of person who was thrilled to meet new people; especially when he was forced into said meeting. This dislike of his stemmed from the many occasions he was forced to socialize and mingle with "people his age" in the many parties, galas or functions that Speedwagon or Erina were invited to.

On those events Joseph had to act like a proper Gentleman, much like his late Grandfather Jonathan had been, taught to him by his Granny. He was forced to spend time with people he had nothing in common nor liked the same things he did, and pretended to care about whatever inane things those snobs spouted endlessly because they loved to hear the sound of their own voices specially when bragging about status and riches; things that none of them earned by themselves and were born into it.

So that'd mean that he preferred to hand out with "normal" kids, right? Well…

Thought not as loathsome as the snobs he was forced to socialize out of obligation and status, with non-rich kids he had the opposite problem; Joseph didn't fit in because of his own status. Unless they are spending money on others like there was no tomorrow, people didn't like the "rich kids", and whenever they tried to act more like their middle-class peers, they'd be accused of "posing" or something inane like that. And those who didn't rejected him, only talked to him trying to get into his pockets; and even if he went as far as to ignore that, Joseph found out that he also didn't share many things in common with them either.

Needless to say, Joseph wasn't someone that had or even made friends; just a long list of acquaintances and brownnosers. Only after coming to Gravity Falls and meeting Mabel, Dipper and Soos did he managed to make friends, even if it was thanks to some bizarre circumstance.

So with all that in mind, Joseph wasn't a surprised when he felt terribly underwhelmed when he met Wendy's friends.

 _'_ _Just what the hell are they doing?'_ Two of them, one blonde and the other with dark skin were holding a third one, overweight with brown hair, upside down so that a guy dressed in a black hoodie could throw jellybeans into the upside-down guy's belly button, while a girl watched and took pictures with her cellphone.

 _'_ _Is this normal for kids my age around these parts or is it just them?'_ This was beyond silly, much more than the time Mabel and Dipper covered Soos in sequins so they could have a make-shift light show inside the Shack; that had been silly but very creative nonetheless.

_'_ _This in the other hand…'_

"Hey guys! These are my pals from work, Mabel and Dipper." She introduced with a smile before she pointed at Joseph with her thumb sounding bored. "And the big guy is JoJo."

"Joseph." said teen corrected, "Only my friends call me JoJo."

"I'm Mabel and I can blow super big bubbles with Bubblegum, watch!" She proceeded to show them how big she could actually make a bubble but only for a few seconds before it popped and got gum stuck on her face.

"She's not much for first impressions." Dipper commented trying to play it cool. "Unlike this guy!" he pointed both his thumbs at himself in a cringe-worthy display, and he realized it too when nobody reacted at all to his display. "This…guy…"

_Ouch._

"So are you, like, babysitting, or-?" the one in the hoodie asked leaning against a van not even looking at the Twins or at JoJo for that matter, most likely to appear aloof and therefore "cool".

"Come on, Robbie!" Wendy admonished, signaling for him to tone down the attitude. "Guys, this is Lee and Nate." She pointed at the long haired blonde with red shirt and the dark shinned guy with a black shirt with melting skull in it.

Their response to their introduction? To laugh and then punch each other.

_Riveting._

"Tambry." Next it was the girl with phone. She had the appearance of an emo/scene girl thanks to the short purple hair with a pink highlight in front of her left ear, the opaque colors of her clothes and the decorated black boots.

"Hey…" She responded noncommittally paying more attention to her phone than what was happening around her.

"Thompson, who once ate a run-over waffle for 50 cents." the heaviest of Wendy's friends with light skin and brown hair and wore a green shirt with a popped collar and brown shorts. For what little they have seen of him, he looked like the typical unconfident teenager, desperate to fit in with his friends.

"Don't tell them that!" And that just confirmed it.

"And Robbie. You can probably figure him out." Shaggy black hair, stereotypical eye-covering "emo style" hairdo, pale skin and several piercings in his ears, wears tight skinny jeans with a light black hoodie with a picture of a red bleeding heart with stitches on it, along with black fingerless gloves.

Yeah. His was the most blatant attempt of Edgy Try-hards, Joseph had ever seen.

' _Just what is up with this rag-tag group of teenage clichés?_ ' All they needed was a strict teacher and they would have their very own "Mealtime Club".

"Yeah, I'm the guy who spray-painted the water tower." He bragged nonchalantly about his edgy crime, like it could impress them.

Joseph was about to retort but Dipper beat him to it with something far better. "Oh, you mean the big muffin!" The English boy tried his best not to burst out laughing.

_'_ _Way to go Dipper!'_

"Um, it's a giant explosion." Robbie corrected sounding offended that his work of art was been misinterpreted. Then everyone turned their gaze up into the distance to take a better look at said painted explosion.

"Hehe! Kinda does look like a muffin!" Lee pointed out making his companion, Nate, laugh. And by the sudden glare Robbie sent Dipper, he didn't found it all that funny.

Joseph chuckled a bit until he felt his hand being tug by Mabel.

"Hey JoJo, how do you call muffins back in England?" She asked out-of nowhere catching him off-guard, which she noticed too. "I mean, there are English Muffins which I guess you guys just call Muffins, but what about those types of Muffins?" She explained while pointing at the spray-painted tower.

"We call them both Muffins." Joseph answered with a small laugh. "I can see why you'll ask but back in England, what American's call English Muffin we just call Muffin, in fact some stores sell them labeled as ' _American Muffins'_ as a joke."

"So if someone offered you a muffin, which one would you think of?" Mabel asked fascinated by this tidbit of trivia.

"I'd think of the sweet one, not the 'English one'." He answered honestly. "Although I think most Englishmen would go for a crumpet, which is an entirely different thing." Personally he would go for a donut.

"Thanks for the lesson, Queen Victoria." Said Robbie, with what intention, Joseph didn't know, but the guy only became more obnoxious in JoJo's eyes.

"Good one." He responded, sarcasm very obvious for everyone to hear. "President Valentine."

"Huh?" Was Robbie's and the other's response, not getting it at all.

"Funny. President Funny Valentine, the 23rd president of the United States." Did they seriously not know their own history? "You know what? Just forget it." Wasn't it sad that an English man knew more about their history than they? Then again the only reason he remembered the man was because he help host the greatest and longest horse-ride race in the history of man-kind, during which he mysteriously disappeared.

"Let's hurry it up, guys. I got big plans for tonight!" Wendy urged everyone to get in the van before an argument could break out.

Getting into the van was difficult since there were far more people than usual. So with Thompson as the driver, and with Robbie and Tambry sharing the co-pilot seat sat on the very front. Next there were Wendy, Lee and Nate in the middle and finally on the very back were Dipper, Mabel and Joseph.

"Okay just, before we go, my mom said you guys aren't allowed to punch the roof anymore, so..." Thompson informed, it was obvious by his tone of voice that he had received quite the lecture on the matter, but despite his reasonable plea, his friends started punching the roof anyways.

All while chanting "Thompson! Thompson! Thompson!"

What great friends.

' _And to think I'll miss The Duchess Approves for this instead._ '

**く** **==AfterSundown==**

The van finally reached their supposedly "fun" destination: an abandoned Convenience Store.

"There it is, fellas! The condemned Dusk 2 Dawn!" Wendy proclaimed while Joseph thought that someone had been a fan of cult classics or it was just a big coincidence.

"Why'd they shut it down, was it like a health code violation, or-" Dipper asked slightly trembling only for Nate to say.

"TRY MURDER!"

"Some folks died in there; the place has been haunted ever since!" Lee explained confusing JoJo a bit.

 _'_ _Which was it?'_ Was it murder or did some people had an unfortunate accident?

"This town has such a colorful history!" Only Mabel could put it like that.

"Wha... Are you guys serious?" Dipper stuttered even more. And who could blame him? In this town infested with the paranormal and the fantastical, ghosts being real was a foregone conclusion.

"Yeah! We're all gonna die!" That didn't stopped Wendy from teasing him though. "Chill out man! It's not as bad as it looks!"

"Come on let's go in!" Robbie said climbing a metal fence that separated the group from the store's parking lot.

It was easy for everyone to climb up and jump down the other side, except for Dipper who was having trouble and Lee who was waiting for him.

"Come on, Dipper!" Wendy urged, eagerly wanting to get into the abandoned store.

"Okay Okay! Just gotta get a foothold..."

"Dude, your sister did it!" Robbie pointed out, further embarrassing Dipper for his predicament.

Joseph sighed, not being able to contain it further. He wanted Dipper to do the climbing himself, but after that, he was going to do him a favor spare him any embarrassment. Sadly he waited too long to act because Lee beat him to the punch.

"Hey, you know what. Just... There you go." He proceeded to give Dipper a push, which would've sent the boy crashing into the floor had it not for JoJo who managed to catch him on time. "Ha! S-sorry dude!"

"Good job pushing him off the fence you **Twit**!" Had he not been able to catch him in time, he would've kicked blonde's ass right there and then.

"Your mom's a Twit..." Lee retorted with the stereotypical teenage response.

 _'_ _My parents are dead!'_ He would've shouted back, but then he remembered he wasn't a brooding Arsemonger. The quota was already being filled by Robbie after all.

"Wow! This place is amazing!" Wendy exclaimed trying to get a peek inside the darkness through the dirty glass.

 _'_ _Those are some very low standards you have, Wendy.'_ JoJo smirked at his own joke but didn't voice it, not while in company of Wendy's friends.

"I think it's, it's stuck!" Robbie struggled to pry the doors open.

"You don't say?" Joseph didn't have the same reservation with Robbie though.

"Let me take a crack at it!" Dipper said, wanting to recover from the embarrassment back on the fence.

"Oh yeah. I can't get in, but I'm sure Junior here is gonna break it down like Hercules!" Robbie mocked him even more, while lowering Joseph's opinion of him.

' _Dipper may not have muscles, but he makes up with a clever and analytical mind_.' Despite being a kid, he was one of the smartest people Joseph had ever met.

"Come on, leave him alone. He's just a little kid." It seemed that Wendy didn't share Joseph's opinion on Dipper, but those words weren't enough to deter the boy. In fact he looked more motivated than ever.

Dipper walked to the side of the store towards a big dumbster and jumped right on top and from there he climbed onto the roof.

"Kid, what are you doing?" Tambry called out followed by the others, except for JoJo who looked on with pride and Mabel who cheered him on.

"Go Dipper!"

"Who wants to bet he doesn't make it?" Robbie said crossing his arms smugly.

"I'll take that bet." JoJo jumped in with no second doubts. "Ten bucks."

"Ha! As if that shrimp could ever pull it-"But in that exact moment said shrimp opened the door from inside the store, shutting Robbie up.

"Guess that means you owe me money." Joseph smirked. He never doubted that Dipper could've pulled it off.

While Robbie remained quiet, the rest were pleasantly surprised.

"Good call inviting this little maniac!"

"Your new name is Dr. Funtimes!"

*High five* from Mabel and a friendly tap on the shoulder from Wendy. "Nice Work!"

"Thanks." Dipper glowed thanks to the praise. Finally came Joseph's

"Never doubted you could do it." He said and both shared a fist bump.

Once everyone was inside, they were too enthralled with the place to notice that the door sign turned from _"Yes, we're open"_ to _"Get lost! We're closed"._

**_ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ _ゴ_ **

"Whoa man, it's even creepier than I imagined!" Wendy said as everybody separated to investigate the place and see what they could find.

Dipper made the discovery that the place had been closed for more than a decade and a half, if the papers on the stands that said 1995 were any indication.

 _'_ _I wasn't even born yet!'_ Joseph thought amazed that a place abandoned that long wasn't in worse conditions.

"Guys, check it out! You think these still work?" Wendy called as she flipped on the lights, finally getting rid of the darkness around. Now that the place was illuminated, it didn't look as creepy as before.

But it raised an important question in Joseph's mind. ' _Why would a condemned place still be connected to the power grid?_ ' And he seemed to be the only one who found that to be strange, because everyone else just cheered for not having to wander on the dark anymore.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Dipper wondered out-loud looking up to Wendy.

"Anything we want."

That was when the fun began.

They started by picking whatever they could carry and throw it at each other begging a store wide food fight where nobody got unscathed. At one point, Lee and Nate got hold of bags of kitty litter and used them to literally sandbag each other.

When they got hold of the soda, everyone got into a circle and try the now old trick of mixing Diet Cola with mints; Joseph then up the ante by super charging the bottle with Hamon to make the chemical reaction far stronger. Everyone cheered so loud, and Joseph had to admit he was having fun.

"Oh my Gosh! Smile Dip! I thought this stuff was banned in America!" Mabel gushed looking at the forbidden candy on her hands.

"Maybe they had a good reason." Before running of throwing a balloon filled with whip cream to the others.

Mabel decided to ignored the warning and was about to open the little bag containing the powdery goodness, when JoJo intervened. "Now Mabel, I don't want to sour your fun, but just hear me out." He said sounding rather serious. "I come from England and our sweets are for more sugary than those on this side of the pond; so Smile Dip is legal in England. But! They are one of the few candies that are forced to adhere to a limit of how many you can sell per customer."

"And…?"

"If you gonna eat it better be with moderation, otherwise you might end up in the hospital!" Joseph warned, though he hated to act like a worrywart, Fun Dip was the real deal. "Ok? Have fun!" with that last warning he walked away looking for something else to do.

"I will!" Mabel said as she opened the bag and dumped all the sugary powder into her mouth.

**く** **==Later==**

On top of an aisle shelf, Wendy and Dipper were sitting eating ice pops. Not even worried they were eating decades old stuff.

"Dipper, this night is like, legendary."

"Really?"

"Just look around. The guys are bonding."And by bonding she meant picking on Thompson who allow them to put ice cubes on his pants. "I've never even seen Tambry look up from her phone this long." Which meant she looked up for more than 10 seconds at the time. "And your sister seems to be going nuts with that Smile Dip." She pointed at Mabel who was lying on the floor with a far look on her face. "And Joseph hadn't acted like an ass since we arrived."

"Mabel! What did I tell you!" JoJo was kneeling down next to Mabel snapping his fingers in front of her face.

"Do you not get along with Joseph?" Dipper couldn't help but ask, seeing how she just referred to his friend.

"It not like I hate the guy," She said trying to find the right words. "But he can be a total jerk sometimes." Though their verbal spars were fun an all, sometimes his snide remarks could totally get out of line. "It's like he feels contempt towards me."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Dipper offered. It didn't sit too well for him to have both his friends not like each other. "Maybe have a serious conversation him."

"I don't know if Joseph can have a serious conversation with anyone." Wendy shrugged.

"He can be serious when he wants to." Dipper still recalled the day after he and Mabel met Joseph and how the teen tested their mettle with the possibility of danger. ' _He stayed in town for us, leaving his home behind for the entire summer, after all._ '

"Maybe if he apologized and admits he had been acting like jerk, I might change my opinion of him." But until that day arrived, they would continue to regard each other as they had so far.

Meanwhile down below, Joseph was checking on Mabel who was experimented an extreme case of sugar high to the point that she was spouting nonsense.

"Mabel can you hear me?"

"Of course I don't mind your singing, sugar angel."

"Elevated Pulse, but not enough to cause concern." Joseph said after checking the pulse through her wrist, mostly to keep himself calm. "No need to get you to a hospital."

"I'm having the time of my life."

"You better enjoy your trip to sugarland because you will feel like crap when you come down from the high, Mabel." Oh well, that was the price to pay if one decided to fool around with Fun Dip.

"Let's get married under the rainbow bridge."

"Not before you're eighteen." He joked, now that he knew her life wasn't at risk. "And not until Dipper and I approve of your boyfriend." What could he said? He started to really care for the twins and didn't mind looking after them.

"I love you my sweet magic prince."

"Where are you gonna get one of those I wonder." He really shouldn't be making fun of her situation, but Joseph found it amusing how kids said the darnest things when they were spacing out.

Suddenly a high pitched scream snapped him out of his thoughts. Joseph remained alert for a few seconds before he heard the others confront Dipper it, only for the boy to dismiss it. And so did Joseph, if anything really serious was afoot then Dipper wouldn't keep it to himself, so that's why the teen wasn't worried.

What was worrying was what would happened if he distracted himself for a few moments and Mabel decided to eat more Fun Dip while he wasn't watching. His priority right now was to look after the hallucinating girl. While the idea of moving her away from the candy stand came to mind he quickly ignored it knowing that moving her in the delicate state she was could cause her to freak out and hurt others or herself.

So he deiced to keep her company while the high slowly went away.

At least that was the plan until Dipper came running to them asking for help.

"Mabel, I need your advice."

"Dude, I don't think Mabel is capable of imparting advice at this moment." Joseph joked pointing at the now more calmed Mabel resting on the floor. "But me? I'm all ears, what's up?"

"We're hanging out in a haunted convenience store, I can't get a hold of Grunkle Stan, and if I say anything about it to any of these guys they'll just think I'm a scared little kid or something!" He said quickly all in one breath and Joseph fought to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"I knew this excursion was going too well to be true."Joseph said after a sigh. "Now, what does the journal say about ghosts?" He had no ideas of how to deal with spirits so the only lead they had was to check for guidance, then they could decided what their next move will be.

"I think they are several pages about ghosts and the different types and categories there are," Dipper recalled as he took out the journal from the inside of his vest. "But all of them say that Ghosts appear and linger for a personal reason."

"Do you know what type or category this ghost is?" Joseph inquired looking at Dipper desperately flipping through the pages.

"I-I don't know!"

"Ok, calm down!" The teen placed both hands on the boy's shoulders so he would stop trembling. "Maybe we just have to get out of here as soon as possible."

"But the others…!"

"I'll deal with the others." Joseph reassured. Though he found it rather silly that Dipper worry too much about what the others might think of him for "bringing down the party" when he was trying to save their lives; Joseph understood that he wanted to fit in with "the cool kids" and he couldn't blame Dipper too much for that. "I'll take one for the team and say that we need to take Mabel back to the Shack to check on her condition."

"Thanks, Joseph." Dipper was grateful that Joseph was there for him, otherwise he wouldn't know what to do. "Let's go."

Leaving Mabel behind for just a minute, both Jojo and Dipper went to gather the rest, only to find them all behind the counter looking at something and curiosity got the best of them.

"What are you guys doing over there?"

"I found the tape markings of the people that died in here." Robbie bragged as if that had been a great accomplishment, then he turned to Lee, "Dude I dare you to lay down on it."

"Good idea." The blond then knocked Nate with his shoulder. "Go lie down to it."

Nate who look happy to actually do it, went towards the markings ready to lie down, until he was stopped by Dipper's yell.

"Wait! Maybe let's not do that."

"This guy's scared!" Lee accused teasing the boy for being a scaredy-cat.

"All I'm saying is,…" But whatever Dipper was about tos ay was interrupted by Joseph who stepped forward.

"We need to go!" the Englishboy said firmly. "Mabel isn't looking well and we need to take her home."

"Didn't you say that she was fine a while ago?" Tambry pointed out. Of all people only there she had overheard him talking to himself about the tiny girl's condition.

"Well, I was wrong." He lied, while internally hating himself from ever admitting that even if it was made-up. "We gotta go now!" But his declaration was received with boo's and groans.

"Yeah, take it down a notch, Captain Buzzkill!" Robbie said, being the one most opposed to going away so soon. "Right, Wendy?"

"Yeah, little bit." The redhead touched her elbow looking unsure. She was torn for having to choose which side to stand with, between her friends from work or her friends from school.

"Status update: trapped in store with a couple of killjoys: a giant oaf and an insane 9-year old." Tambry added her two cents.

"Call us whatever you want but we still need to…!" This time it was Joseph who ended up being interrupted by Dipper.

"I'm not a 9-year-old!" He said with a lot of bravado. It seemed that the mocking got under his skin a bit. "I'm 13! Technically a teen!" he finished his declaration by showing how not a buzzkill he was by lying on the markings.

That was when sh*t hit the fan.

The markings of the tapes light up in a spectral green light, as the lights above their heads flickered uncontrollably before going completely off, and to top it all off, Tambry ended up dissolving out of thin air, only to reappear trapped inside the security camera screen that showed freaking out.

Everyone screamed in panic, but Joseph's was the one that sounded above them all.

"OH! MY! GOD!"

It was almost like they were trapped inside an episode of the "Sunset Zone", but Joseph and Dipper knew better. This was in fact the work of an enemy's…ghost powers!

"What are we supposed to do!?" Nate looked around scared out of his wits.

"Let's just go already!" Robbie shouted, making Joseph's eye twitch a bit.

"Oh! NOW you want to leave!" Call him petty, but the goth/emo deserved that.

But before a fight could break between the two, Wendy came between the two and shouted.

"Thompson!"

Said Teen also ended up vanishing and reappearing inside a screen, but this time it was the screen of the dancing game which he had played on earlier.

"Uh? What?" Thompson looked confused at his surroundings before the dance arrows of the game rain down on him like they were actual arrows that could pierce skin.

"Thompson!" Wendy cried out in worry, but was pulled by the arm by Robbie.

"Forget about them! Let's go!"

Joseph hated to admit it, Robbie had the right idea. If they stay there, they will be sitting ducks waiting to be picked out one by one by the ghost. Even if they are seen as cowards, a strategic retreat was a valid battle tactic that would help them survive long enough to form a plan so they could come back and rescue the others.

JoJo was prepared to run away, but at the last second a though came and stopped him on his tracks. "MABEL!" He couldn't leave her here! Not even with a promise to come back to rescue her! But as he was about to retrieve her he saw the others struggled with the door.

"Guys! The door is locked!" Wendy cried out looked terrified. Never before in her life would she have imagined this night to go like this.

"OUTTA MY WAY!" Out of desperation, Robbie picked up the heavy cash register and threw it at the door hopping to break the glass. But the appliance ended up dissolving in a green light and then it bounced the kinetic energy back to Robbie sending him flying off his feet.

"Let me try!" Joseph stepped forward with his arm cocked back. "OVERDRIVE!" he threw a powerful punch towards the door with his fist sparking with Hamon. But before his fist made contact with the door, the same green energy reappeared and blocked the strike acting as some sort of barrier.

 _'_ _I'm being pushed back!'_ Was his Hamon not working? No. It was doing something! It was protecting him from the same push back as the one that sent Robbie flying. It was as if his Hamon and the strange spectral energy were repelling each other as magnets with the same polarity.

Seeing as there was no use, Joseph jumped back away from the door, his arm no longer charged with Hamon energy. "Crap that didn't work!"

"What was that?!" Wendy pointed at Joseph as if she was looking at him for the first time.

"Tell you later." Not that he was looking forward for that conversation. "Dipper! Do you have anything that could help us?"

"Well unless someone is carrying special anointed water, we can try and figure out the reason why the ghost is inspiriting the store." Dipper informed of what he could find that was useful. "If we do, then it might let us leave!"

"Uh-uh they'll let us out of here!" Robbie retorted sarcastically. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense!"

"If you don't have anything you contribute then shut the hell up, you country bumpkin!" Joseph berated looking at the dark dressed boy with disdain.

"I don't know guys, maybe they know what they're talking about!" Wendy came to their defense, siding with Dipper and Joseph.

"Yeah right, I'm sure the ghost just wants to talk about his feelings!" Lee mocked sardonically, only to dissolve like the others, except this time he reappeared inside the image of a cereal box in which the bird mascot proceeded to stab him continuously with a giant spoon.

"Lee" Nate screamed looking away from his best friend torture. "Okay, okay.. I'm with you kid! 100%, man!"

But before any plans could be made, Mabel appeared floating in front of them surrounded by green spectral energy.

"Welcome." A deep masculine voice spoke through her, indicating she was being possessed by the spirit.

"Mabel!" Both Dipper and Joseph shouted her name at the same time, but their voices didn't reach her. Instead the spirit continued to talk ominously.

"Welcome to your graves, young trespassers."

"We're super sorry for hanging out in your store!" Wendy scared more than she ever been before in her short life, pleaded forgiveness from the spirit.

"We promise that if you let us leave we will never come back!" Dipper bargained instead.

"I think not!" the ghost replied with dark amusement showing in his voice.

"Just let us out of here already!" Nate shouted; his helplessness turning into anger.

"I don't like your tone!" And with just those words, Nate was dissolved as well and his torture was to become a sausage and turn on the hot stove.

"No! I'M A HOT DOG!"

"It begins." The spirit possessing Mabel announced while making every single object not bolted to the floor in the store levitate in the air with his spectral powers. "Welcome to your home for all eternity!" then everything and everyone fell into the ceiling as if the gravity inside the store had inverted.

"What do we do?!" Wendy asked nearing hysterics, only to be attacked by a flying shelf.

"Get down!" Joseph pushed her out of harm's way and ended up being hit instead.

"JoJo!" she called out but she didn't have much time to grieve over it because Dipper grabbed her by the arm and pointed at the tipped over ice machine.

"Quick! In there!" The boy dragged her inside so that they could hide from the ghost wrath and maybe hatch a plan to help them escape.

Meanwhile, Joseph picked himself up from the wreckage he fell under after being sent flying by the attacking shelf. "I hate being thrown around like a bloody rag doll!" Seriously, first Gideon and now this? It was so unfair. _'Speaking of unfair.'_ His Hamon was useless as well. Well not totally, he Hamon and spectral energy repelled each other which meant he couldn't use it to attack his opponent.

Joseph's musings were interrupted when Mabel's figure appeared floating in front of him was more. "Now, I wonder what type of punishment you shall receive."

"Hey ghost! I don't know what your problem is, but it ends now!" Joseph stood up trying his best to ignore the fact he was yelling at Mabel's body and just focus on the ghost possessing her.

"Oh! I you think YOU can stop ME?" The ghost mocked clearly amused.

"I propose a deal!"

"A deal?! What stupidity is this?!" The ghost said finding Joseph's claim to be utterly ridiculous. "You have nothing I want."

"If you let my friends go I'll stay behind!" Joseph revealed much to the surprise of everyone that could still hear him. "If you want to torture someone for all eternity then let that be me instead!"

"So you believe yourself to be some sort of hero, huh?"

Actually no. He didn't think himself to be much of the Hero type. In fact under normal circumstances he would never do a deal like this in his life. He would've much preferred to run away or even play possum and soil his pants to sell the illusion of his death.

"What do you say?" But this was far from a normal circumstance.

"Why would I ever accept a deal like that?" No matter how they looked at it, they gained nothing out of it.

"Because if you let them go, they will make sure nobody else ever disturbs with this convenience store." That was what caused this mess in the first place, right? "No to mention you will forever hold possession of my body instead of the one you currently inspirit!"

"It is a great body, I admit!" The ghost said creeping the hell out of Joseph for all the wrong reasons., but he had to keep playing it cool.

"How about it? Is a great deal don't you think? Just release my friends and you can have my body for all eternity!"

"Or better yet, I take over your body and keep the others as well!" The spirit said as the spectral energy surrounding Mabel disappeared indicating the ghost had let go of her body, only to start enveloping Joseph's next.

JoJo smirked.

He loved it when a plan went how he expected.

"Next thing you're gonna say is: « _Your body is now mine!_ » right?"

"You body is now mine, ha?!" The ghost exclaim in surprise at Joseph's accurate prediction. "How did you…?!"

But JoJo didn't answer with words, but with actions. And his next course of action was to breath deeply!

_コオオオオ_ _!_

His body was covered head to toe with Hamon, and it clashed with the spectral green that now tried to take over him. And just like before, both energies repelled each other and soon after the ghost powers were blown away.

"How do you like that?" Although he couldn't use his Hamon to attack it didn't mean it was useless. He could still use it for defense, knowing that his and the ghost's powers canceled each other out. "That's what you get for messing with us!"

"You… You tricked us!" A different voice said as the spectral energy reformed into two different shapes; that of an old man and an old woman. "You teenagers are all the same! Always lying and causing problems." The old man ghost with a tag name that said PA went about.

"You should be ashamed of yourself." The old woman whose tag name read MA chipped in to berate him.

 _'_ _GREAT. Not only are they ghosts, they are old geezer ghosts.'_ If he wanted to be yelled at by an old person we would've gone to the shack and piss off Stan. "You got something against teenagers or what?"

"Only our most profound hate! And that's why we will punish you and your friends for all eternity!" Pa, declared with a maniacal laughter.

"Hey Ghost!" another voice cut in, before Joseph could retort. "I got something to tell you." It was Dipper who had crawled from his hiding spot leaving Wendy silently watching him stand up to the specters. "I'm not a teenager!"

"How old are you?" Pa looked at the boy suspiciously.

"I'm…I'm twelve, technically not a teenager." He admitted hoping that Wendy could forgive him for lying to her about his age.

"Well why didn't you say so?" Both Pa and Ma changed their whole attitudes in a split second after hearing that. "When we were alive, teenagers were a scourge on our store!"

Both ghosts when on and on about how teenagers caused so much problems to them and their store that they banned them from entering; but in doing so the teenagers retaliated by loitering at their parking lot with their loud music and "disturbing dances". The shock was too much for them that they ended up dying of double heart attacks, while cursing teenagers for eternity.

"That's why we hate teenagers so much! Don't we, honey?" Ma finished the tale while nuzzling with Pa.

It was a tragic tale indeed, but Joseph really had no sympathy for them and their torturous ways.

"But they're my friends, isn't there anything I can do to, help them?" Dipper asked, ever the hopeful hero.

"There is one thing. Do you know any funny little dances?" Pa requested confusing the heck out of both Joseph and Dipper, so much that the Englishboy couldn't help but ask.

"Come again?"

"Uh... is there anything _else_ I can do?" Dipper was willing to do much to save his friends, but asking him to do the Lamby Dance was a little too much.

"NOOOO!" Pa raged bursting into flames.

"OKAY OKAY OKAY! Um... Well, I do know...The Lamby Dance…" This seriously was the worst request in order for him to save the day. "Bu-but I can't really do it, without a lamb costume!"

And by just a finger snap, a costume Lamb appeared on him. And when Dipper started singing and dancing in a lamb costume was when Joseph stopped thinking… for a full 2 to 3 minutes. Even after everything he had seen so far, none could've prepared him for the absurdity that was happening in front of him; so his brain decided to take a break and spared him from the strain of processing what was happening in real time.

When his brain finally came back to restore motor functions, Joseph found himself falling upwards dazed onto the floor. "What the-?!" then he remembered that gravity had been inverted for a while and they had been walking on the ceiling. And he wasn't the only one, the rest also were also back if a little bit confused as to what happened.

The worst of all was Mabel who was suffering not only from being possessed by two spirits at once, but she also was coming down of her high with nothing on her stomach but sugary treats. So massive stomach and headache were inevitable.

"Ugghh... I'm never gonna eat or do anything ever again."

"That's the price you pay for messing around with Fun Dip." Joseph reminded her as he help her up. "Hope you learned a valuable lesson tonight."

"Candy can be evil…"

"Well, not all candy." He said with a laugh wondering what evil candy would look like.

**く** **==Meanwhile==**

Far away at the Gravity Falls City Dumb, a spirit waiting for the night Summerween to come, sneezed all of the sudden; which was weird because he had no physical form yet.

**く** **==BackToTheHauntedConvinienceStore==**

After Wendy told everyone a romanticized interpretation of tonight's events and Dipper's exploits, covering for the little guy and sparing him the embarrassment that was the Lamby Dance, everyone was getting back in the car feeling sore after such adventure.

"Hey, JoJo can I speak with you for a sec?" Wendy called the other teen over to the side so they could speak privately.

"What is it, Wendy?" Joseph asked somewhat cranky, he was also feeling tired and sore like the rest.

"I just wanted to thank you for what you did, back there."

"I didn't do anything. It was Dipper who saved the day not me." A fact that didn't bother him as much as before like when it happened with Gideon. "If anyone deserved your appreciation it's him."

"I already thank him so don't worry about it." The redhead ignored his casual dismissal of his accomplishments tonight. "You pushed me out of harm's way and without your giving us time Dipper wouldn't have figured out what to do about those ghosts. Also for what you said." she trailed off at the end.

"What did I say?"

"Wait you don't remember?" She asked somewhat appalled.

"Honestly at the time I was too preoccupied with the ghosts." Joseph shrugged not being able to recall what he said that could be so important for Wendy. "So what did I say?"

"About you sacrificing yourself for your friends!" Seriously how could he not recall his own words?! But before she could berate him for it she calmed herself down with a sigh and continued. "That got me thinking… are we friends Joseph?"

"What kind of question is that?" Thought now that he recalled, when he made the deal he had been thinking mostly about Dipper and Mabel, if the others got out as well that would've been a nice bonus too.

"A yes or no one." Wendy retorted. "Very simple."

"It is not that simple."

"Well how about this one: do you hate me?" She asked way too bluntly, but she didn't care. She wanted answers or she would be musing over this all day and night without letting her sleep.

"I don't hate you Wendy." Joseph said without hesitation, although there were things about her that he wasn't a fan of. But that was normal for all relationships with people.

"Do you like me?" She then thought how that question sounded and quickly added. "And I'm not refereeing to that!"

This time Joseph remained quiet for a few seconds before answering. "I can't say… I really don't know you."

"You don't know me? We work together."

"Well then, how many of those hours do we actually spend together just talking normally just the two of us?"

"I-I…" She wanted to answer but she didn't know how.

"Exactly."

That's when a heavy awkward silence fell upon the two of them. Thankfully Joseph decided to end it quickly and cut to the chase.

"Look Wendy… we aren't exactly buddy-buddy and stuff, but that doesn't mean we can't become friends." God! That sounded way too corny. He almost regretted saying it the moment it left his mouth had it not being for the small smile Wendy sent his way.

"I guess." She rubbed her elbow. She wouldn't mind considering JoJo a friend instead of that guy that work at the Shack. "Would you stop acting like a total jerk to me?"

"I don't know, would you stop acting like a total slacker all the time?" The sudden look on her face told JoJo that he had got her with that one. "How about we both tone it down a little and see how that goes." He then offered his hand to her.

"I find that reasonable enough." Wendy took the English boy's hand and shook it coming to a mutual agreement. "See you at work on Tuesday."

"We have work on Monday." Joseph reminded her.

"Like I told Dipper, I'm going to take a day off to just stare at a wall and RETHINK EVERYTHING about my life."

"Have fun with that."

It may not have been the night they both expected to have in this little breaking and entering trip, but it had been memorable to say the least. And hey! They both managed to start "making friends" with each other.

So all in all, this night trip was a success.

**く** **==ToBeContinued==**

 

『 **Cyphers** 』

『Etq ime pdqmyuzs mnagf ftq nqef imk fa tqxb tuy. Sqf kagd yuzp agf ar ftq sgffqd.』

『Uz Hqzuoq, m nxazp Ufmxumz Nak tme mxdqmpk nqsmz tue Tmyaz fdmuzuzs.』

 

『Haxabja gb uvfgbevnaf, Cerfvqrag Inyragvar jrag njnl orpnhfr bs uvf cerivbhfyl haxabja Qvegl Qrrqf Qbar Qveg Purnc.』

『Haxabja gb rirelbar ohg uvf tenaqzbgure, gur Ratyvfuobl hfrq gb unir n pehfu ba Fgheyl Fgrzoyrohetvff nf "Gur Qhpurff".』

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little gag I like is how different characters refer to the same thing with different names.
> 
> Joseph: Hamon!
> 
> Dipper: Ripple!
> 
> Mabel: Wave Energy!
> 
> Another day another encounter with the supernatural. Poor JoJo he can't take a break!
> 
> Someone wrote to me saying that there is too much gravity falls and very little JoJo. And that's true, but we are only starting here. Next chapter, Joseph discovers something but it may only raise more questions than answers.


	10. 『Gift from a Hamon Trainee』

After another bizarre encounter with the weirdness that characterized Gravity Falls came normality, or at least the closest thing you could get in a town like this.

So another normal day meant another day of work at the Shack. And just like she had said before, Wendy didn't came to work that Monday; that is why Stan tended the cash register at the gift ship and dealt with an indecisive costumer known as Tyler.

Apparently Tyler liked to do his Christmas shopping as early as summer. So he was taking a good look around at the Shack, much to Stan ever increasing irritation. If only something happened so that the showman didn't have to deal with the biker.

"Grunkle Stan?" Called out Dipper.

"Can we go to the diner?" Asked in turn Mabel. "We're huuungry."

Both of them moan and groan about their appetite, unknowingly providing Stan with the excuse he wanted to leave the place. "Joe! Take care of the shop while I take the kids to the diner."

Joseph who had being cleaning inside the "museum" stuck his head through the doorway and asked. "Me? Are you really leaving me in charge?" That had been a first.

"Yeah well, Wendy isn't here so that leaves only you, while Soos run his errand." Stan wasn't worried about the Shack, since Joseph would be too preoccupied dealing with Tyler to do anything while he was alone. "So good luck!" He waved goodbye before going for the door to get as far as possible from that place.

"See you later." / "Good Luck!" Dipper and Mabel bid him well as they too went outside towards Stan's car.

"Sure I can do this." JoJo said confidently as he took his place behind the counter. If Wendy of all people could do this job, then sure as heck he could do so as well. He turned around to see the only costumer at the moment, having a hard time choosing between what shirt he really wanted.

"Puma shirt, Panther shirt. Puma shirt, Panther shirt. Puma shirt…Panther shirt." This went on and on for a good solid minute before Joseph finally intervened.

"Why don't you buy both? Or better yet why don't you sew one half of each shirt together." It was a crack suggestion born out of exasperation, that is why it was so surprising when Tyler turned around with a big smile.

"That's a wonderful idea!" Then he placed the money for the two shirts next to the register on the counter. "Thank you very much!" And with a skip on his step he finally went away with his two shirts, leaving Joseph completely alone.

A fact he noticed in an instant.

"I'm alone." He said out-loud to himself. "I'm all alone!" After all this time since he arrived, he had not a single moment of complete privacy with him being absolutely alone in a house.

So as any bored 15 year old boy who had an empty house all of him, he did what came natural to him.

"Come on! Come on! Almost there…!"

Joseph then turned on the doorknob only to find he couldn't access Stan's office.

"Damn!" Picking locks was really harder than movies made it look, and unless he breaks the lock, there was no way to enter the office and look around the place to find some leverage against his employer.

"Maybe I should look around the house and see what else I can find." It was that or going back to work. "Who knows maybe I'll find another secret room." He joked of course. He had already found a secret room with Soos, there was no way there was another one, like say… behind the large bookcase on the first floor.

That would be utterly ridiculous.

 **く** **==OneQuickCheckUpLater==**

"You son of a…!"

ANOTHER SECRET ROOM!?

Another room where he could've stayed at instead of having to crash in with Soos and his grandmother, bless her soul, opened her doors to him despite the financial situation they were in! He swore he was gonna repay that woman someday and kick Stan's ass for his lies!

But enough of that, he had a secret room to explore.

It wasn't exactly a very large room, but it was spacious enough to easily be someone's bedroom or some sort of personal study. There was a large L-shaped sofa that could seat several people and even serve as a "bed" to crash on. There were some file cabinets and a chest drawer, an old comfy-looking chair, a three-way mirror obscured under a blanket, a side door that led to a small bathroom and most eye-catching of them all a blue fluffy carpet.

Seriously?! Why didn't Stan lend him this room or at least turned it into a break room or something! Anything other than to hid it behind a bookcase!

That's when Joseph realized something! If Stan was hiding this room, then there must be something valuable or embarrassing he was trying to hide from others. Either case, JoJo was determined to find it!

The first place he looked was the file cabinets yet he either found them empty or containing documents with strange words and math equations and symbols too advanced for him to understand.

The next place, of course, was the chest drawer which had old clothes in the first and second drawers, but in the third and final one he found something rather curious. The third drawers had several bits and pieces of weird stuff, but most prominent of all was a book.

A red covered book.

"This is-?!" A book that looked very much like the journal Dipper always carried around. "No wait, it can't be." Sure eerily similar as the one Dipper had, but there were distinctive differences: the hand on the cover was smaller and Silver colored instead of Gold, it had five fingers instead of six like the original and instead of a number "3" in the middle of the palm, and it had a name instead.

"Lisa?" Joseph read out-loud. Opening up the cover, he found a picture of a young girl, around Mabel's age, with short dark brown hair standing in front of a wood cabin with a smile on her face. "You must be Lisa. You sure were a cute girl." Looking at the back of the picture, he found a date written on it.

_Summer of 1977._

"That's almost four decades ago." Well, more like 35 years ago, but Joseph wasn't one who was too quick with numbers. "If she is still alive, she must be an old hag by now."

 **く** **==MeanwhileInVenice==**

A beautiful woman with long dark brownish hair sneezed once more making her student worry.

"Are you sure you aren't sick, coach?"

"My health isn't so fragile that I need a brat like you to worry about me!" She put on a strong front, but in reality she was planning to later get some medicine just in case; she was nearing 50 after all.

 **く** **==BackInGravityFalls==**

Although now that Joseph took a good look at her, he started to feel as if this Lisa girl was familiar to him, as if he had met her before. But that was simply not possible. So instead, he focused in the meaning of this book being in this place.

"Why would Stan have this?" It obviously didn't belong to him, so why keep it? "Maybe it belongs to a member of his family?" A cousin or a niece, were JoJo's best guesses. "I guess I can read to find out."

Though he would think it twice before invading the privacy of a girl by reading what most likely was their diary, since he didn't want to be labeled a snoop or a creep; but since it was quite old, he was sure nobody would ever mind if he took a peek inside.

So he opened a random page hoping to find the classic type of entries a 13-year old would write in a diary: like how her day went, a secret she wanted to confess, or even a dream she had. Instead he found the exact opposite.

_"Life Magnetism Overdrive."_

Joseph read the title head utterly perplexed. This was not something a girl would write on her diary, yet he kept on reading.

_"Living beings, including the human body, are able to produce weak, almost unnoticeable, magnetic fields making them into 'living magnets.' But with a Hamon Overdrive, one can increase the power and range of that magnetic field of their body or of others."_

The book then went into detail about possible applications for this technique and the tale of a Hamon user who use this same technique to create a glider out of leaves.

"This is-! This is-!" This was exactly like the technique he developed and used against Manly Dan in that Arm Wrestle competition they had. Except that it was exactly a new technique and in fact the book already had a name for it!

Turning on the pages, Joseph found even more.

_"Hamon Cutter."_

Now that sounded deadly.

_"Using Hamon to shape to water into a razor edge, a Master can convert any liquid into a "blade" sharp and dense enough to cut through solid objects like stone or some metals as well as help deflect incoming projectiles."_

Then the page continued with drawings and diagrams of how one could shape water and what forms were the most efficient.

A technique like this would've come in handy back when Gideon was kicking JoJo's ass with his magic powers! If only had he found this sooner! Why would Stan hide something so incredible from him! Wh-

Wait a second!

"Why does Stan have this?!" Why the hell would that old con artist have a journal with Hamon techniques?! He must know how important or valuable this was; otherwise he would've gotten rid of this long ago. Or worse! Use it to scam money out of gullible tourists.

"There must be an answer in here somewhere!" Flipping to the very front page, Joseph hoped to find some kind of "intro" or "prologue" that could help and answer some of his questions. And lo and behold he found something.

_"If you are reading this, this means you really kept your promise to come back and visit me again, just like I kept mine of writing this journal."_

Joseph read somewhat perplexed. Was this book a gift? Judging for the handwriting it obviously belonged to Lisa. But the question was to whom she dedicated this book to.

_"I really hope I am there to present this to you, but in case I am no longer in Gravity Falls I want you to know that despite the very short time we had together you help and inspire me more than you could even imagine. Thanks to your advice and encouragement I was able to finally expand upon the teaching of my Masters and further develop Sendō in ways I never imagined."_

So it seems that the time of writing this Lisa wasn't more than a student practitioner of Hamon and the person who she dedicated this book wasn't her master or a student, but someone else who apparently help a lot.

_"Of course, not all of this was done on my own. Ford, the man I told you about, was very supportive in helping me with some notes, the drawings and diagrams you'll find inside. He is a very good artist! I really hope he is there to meet you, and if he is I am sure you two already hit it up nicely."_

Ford? Who was-? Did she mean Stanford Pines? Stanford Pines who was nothing but a conman that only cared about money and his self-interests before others? That Stan Pines?!

"There's no way she is talking about the same man I'm thinking." I mean, in the picture he found, Lisa was standing in front of what was clearly the Mystery Shack 35 years ago. So maybe she was talking about another person named Ford who live in this place before Stan came in and probably stole the deed of the place and turn it into a Tourist Trap.

That was the only explanation that made sense, to Joseph.

_"He was even nice enough to develop that idea of a Hamon Mask you told me about. At first I thought it would not be possible, but with his genius now training proper Hamon breathing will be far easier for beginners."_

"Mask?" Joseph quickly looked back inside the drawer, remembering he found something that look like a respirator mask among the stuff inside the drawer. "This is the Hamon Mask." He said as he pulled it out to take a better look at it. "So this Ford Guy made this?" Another reason why this guy couldn't possibly be the Stan he knew because his boss was anything but a genius inventor, if his cheap made-up attractions were anything to go by.

_"But of all things you help me with, none can compare with how you help me re-discover an old forgotten technique."_

"Forgotten Technique?" Now that sounded quite interesting. "I wonder if she wrote about it in this book."

_"If you hadn't stumbled upon me on that clearing I would've probably spent many hours throwing heavy Steel Balls at trees for days before giving up completely."_

"Steel Balls?" JoJo took another look inside the drawer and found said Steel Balls, that had the carving of two hexagons and several lines; they were as big as a baseball and weighted a whole lot more, around five pounds (2.3 kg) each. "These are heavy!" Still he had no idea what they were used for this Forgotten technique.

_"This book is testimony of all the accomplishments I made thanks to hard work and your help. I wish this serves you well. As I'm sure it would help further generations of Sendō Teachings. "_

_"From your friend Lisa, with all of my love to you: Joe"_

"What is going on?" Joseph pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to clear his head. ' _Lisa, Ford, Hamon, Forgotten techniques, Steel Balls and Joe._ '

Was Lisa the Acolyte sent by Straizo to help with the investigation of Gravity Falls? Was Ford part of the group of researchers sent by the Speedwagon Foundation? Could either of them be the Author of the Journal that Dipper carried around with him everywhere? Where were they now? Were they still alive? What did they discover? And what does the Stone Mask have to do with any of this?

This questions and names and words resonated all over his head trying to connect and fit into an unfinished puzzle that was the ever increasing Mysteries of Gravity Falls.

Even worse, when he read the name Joe, for a second he believed that Lisa was referring to him and that this book was dedicated to him. But that was impossible. He could've never met with this Lisa girl because he wasn't even born yet. And this guy Joe wasn't him; no matter how many times Stan kept calling him that.

Even though it make no sense at all, finding this book and having in his hands just felt right. As if Fate had guided him to find it.

"But what should I do now?" Joseph placed a hand to the side of his face. He had stumbled upon this book either by fate or by complete dumb luck, and there was no way in hell he was just going to put it back where he found it. This book and the knowledge it contained was what he needed! It was the mean to help him become stronger in order to survive the craziness that this town kept throwing his way and protect his new friends.

Joseph decided he was going to keep it: the book and the mask and the Steel Balls and everything in that drawer; although, the teen debated whenever to tell anyone or confront Stand about of what he found in the room. Who knows how Stan would react if Joseph told him about finding the room and confronted him with questions about Lisa and Ford? What if the man decided to take the book away from him denying Joseph of this knowledge he desperately needed?

Even if he went all out against Stan, nothing that he found connected the old man directly with this journal, besides the fact that Joseph found it in his house. It was circumstantial at best, and the conman would just deny knowing anything and be tight-lipped about it.

"I better keep this entire thing secret." It was for the best. Otherwise it would alert Stan and that would make it even more difficult to get any info out of him. "For now I better get this stuff out of here and put everything back where it was." And later once he's gotten some of these techniques down and dig up some concrete evidence that either linked or exonerated Stan to the Journals, he would come clean.

As quickly as he could, Joseph put the contents of the third drawer inside a box he found, before putting everything else he moved back where it originally was. Then he closed the door and pushed the large bookcase back where it belong, obscuring the entrance to the secret room.

Once he was done, he placed the box behind the counter of the gift shop, hiding it in plain sight among other old boxes no one ever checked. Then he sat next to the cash register and pretended to do Wendy's job, at least until anyone came back.

Thankfully the teen employee didn't have to wait long, because soon after Soos came back from his errand. "What's up JoJo?"

"Yo Soos!" He greeted very happy to see the repairman. "Could you please do me a big favor?"

"Sure, anything for a bro." The man smiled back, "What do you need?"

"See, I need a place to keep a box of stuff safe, so I wondered if you could please lend me some space in your storage unit." It was that or bring the stuff back to Soos' house where his grandmother could stumble upon it when she cleaned the house. Though his like Soos and Abuelita, he really needed his own space so he could keep what he found a secret.

"Sure! Here you go!" Soos thought nothing about the request, pulled out the key to the storage unit from his pants and handed it over to Joseph. "Take this extra copy I have."

"Thanks Soos, you're a life saver!" Joseph smiled as he placed the key into his pocket for safe keeping. He also erases the quick mental note to make a copy of the key for his personal use, now that he had a key of his own.

"Don't sweat it, dude. Besides the place is pretty empty now that I'm not storing my boat in there." Despite his cheery attitude, this was a reminder for Jospeh of how said boat was tarnished by the supposed Monster in the lake.

"Say, could you do me another favor?" the teen asked somewhat bashful now that he was about to ask more out of the repairman. "There's some stuff I gotta do in town and I…"

"I get it dude." Soos cut in still in a good mood. "You can go do your thing, I cover for you."

"Really? Dude, you are the best!"

"So I've been told." He joked. To him some of the things he did for his friends weren't that big of a deal for him. "Good to see you are starting to feel better dude." Ever since last week the teen had been in some type of depressed funk that was starting to worry him. "Today you're like back to your old self and stuff."

"Remember when I said I had stuff I needed to settle on my own? Well, let's say I found a way to settle them once and for all." Really, finding that room was a godsend for him. "Thanks a lot for your help, man."

"That's what bro's do for each other dude."

After an epic fist-bump, Joseph took his leave with his box of goodies. So eager he was for Lisa's journal that when he arrive to the Storage Place, he stored his stuff and started to read the whole thing from the very beginning, not wanting to miss a single thing.

Joseph excitement was so much that he didn't return to Soos' house for the night.

 **く** **==TheVeryNextDay==**

Joseph groaned.

He really had gone overboard the day before staying late reading Lisa's Journal and trying on some of the techniques and exercises it showcased to the early hours in the morning, is what was causing him to feel like crap today.

And the Hamon Mask he was wearing wasn't helping at all.

According to Lisa, this Hamon Mask was some sort of Oxygen reducing mask that would help improve his Hamon by Hypoxic training. By training his breathing with reduced levels of Plasma Oxygen it would increase his vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), meaning he was going to produce more blood cells and better able to restore oxygen supply to tissues; which would help increase the output of his Hamon in a more efficient way as before.

The only problem was that if he over-trained to the point his VEGF grew more so than necessary it would lead to the formation of tumors and cancer in his cells. Something Joseph really wanted to avoid at all costs. Sothe book recommended a training regimen of high-intensity, short-term usage, followed by intermittent training without the mask, is likely the most beneficial way to benefit from hypoxic training.

But in order to start his training, he first needed to acclimate to the oxygen deprivation and how exactly is it he needed to regulate his breathing in order to properly produce Hamon. So that is why he was walking back to Soos' house with the mask on.

It was during this trek that he found Dipper by himself looking somewhat dejected. "Hey Dipper!"

Te boy turned around trying to locate the source of the voice who called for him, until it finally settled on the Teen. "Joseph? Is that you?" He almost didn't recognize him with the strange mask on. "What's up with the mask?"

"Yes it is me." He took off the mask and let it hang from his neck. "And this is an Oxygen Reducing Mask! Pro-Athletes use these to train."

"But you aren't exactly an athlete." Despite the big developed body the guy had.

"It is to help me with my Hamon breathing." JoJo explained, knowing that Dipper would get why he use it, and wouldn't be the type to wonder where he had gotten that idea to use one, since to him Joseph was the Hamon Expert.

"Oh, I see…" Dipper said looking down to his feet. It didn't take a genius to notice how gloomy the boy was and that there was something gnawing him on the back of his mind.

"Say, wanna grab a bite with me? I'm famished!" Joseph offered hoping that lunch would soften the boy up to tell him what was wrong, not to mention that he was indeed very hungry and needed sustenance. "Come on, my treat!"

"Sure…"

 **く** **==OneSatisfyingLunchLater==**

Joseph and Dipper remained at the Diner, and Dipper was finishing telling him about his solo adventure with these half-man half-bull humanoids who were pressuring him to kill a Multi-bear in order to become a MAN.

Joseph didn't know what was crazier, that the tale featured even more strange creatures than they had come across before, or that he believe it without question. His time in Gravity Falls really desensitized him of anything supernatural or paranormal.

At this point he would believe almost anything.

"So I said no." Dipper finished his tale about how he spared the life of the Multibear and confronted the Manotaurs about it. "It just wasn't right."

"Tell me one thing Dipper: Do you think I am manly?" Jospeh asked out of the blue, somewhat blindsiding the boy with the question.

"Yes." I mean, how couldn't he?

"And why is that?"

"Hm…because you are big and strong…?"

"I'll take the compliment," Joseph smiled at him. "But I'll tell you that it is the wrong answer." he continued with a smile sigh. "Being Manly is not about the muscles or the chest hair or eating meat, it is about doing what a man does."

"What does a man do?" Dipper asked wanting to really know.

"A man stands up for what he believes is right, but also admits when he is wrong and changes for the better; kinda like you did."

"Huh?"

"You defeated a monster by yourself, but when you realized he wasn't a bad guy, you have the guts to admit your mistake and even confronted the Manotaurs on their BS and stood up for your beliefs. That's pretty damn manly to me." Despite his age and stature, Dipper was really shaping up to become a great man one day. It almost reminded him of the stories Uncle Speedwagon told about Joseph's grandfather; how Jonathan was so brave and courageous, but also smart and kind.

The very definition of a proper gentleman.

"You really think so?" Dipper asked hopefully and Joseph answered him with a smile.

"I know so." This in turn made the gloomy boy smile too. "Besides I'll let you in on a secret." Joseph said ina low voice and leaned forward. "BABBA is pretty good."

"You like BABBA too?" Dipper was honestly surprised by that admission.

"They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 for a very good reason." Joseph said sagely with arms crossed and a nod. "Disco Girl is catchy but I really like "Mayday" just a little more."

"Oh that's a good one too." Dipper nodded enthusiastically, before he started reciting. " _So when you're near the coast can you hear me calling, Mayday._ "

" _Nothing short of love could ever hope to save me, Mayday."_ Joseph recited back.

" _Don't you go, can't you hear I am calling you on?_ "

" _Now you're gone, will someone else carry me on?_ "

Both boys then share a laugh. Letting their previous worries be bygones. Tomorrow would be another day, but for now they would enjoy themselves with just the little things in life, like a good song between friends.

 **く** **==ToBeContinued==**

『Hvs Sbuzwgvpcm vog gsjsfoz POPPO qr'g poqy vcas.』

『Hvs Ghssz Pozzg igsr hc pszcbu hc ob Whozwob Vcfgs Foqsf』

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, but I was informed that a person back in FF.Net posted an unauthorized translation of this story, claiming it as his own. I tried to reason with this person but he refused to take down the story, so I had no other choice to report him. Once the story was taken down I thought it was the end of it, but a few days later this person re-uploaded the story. That's when I was informed by a fellow author that this guy had done the same to several other people on FF and other sites.
> 
> I already filed my report of his main and various other accounts he has in FF, but knowing the type of person that lurks the internet I don't think he'll go away anytime soon.
> 
> As for the notes on this chapter:
> 
> Don't you worry about Joseph's progression. He will not get an INSTANT POWER-UP that will make him OP invincible. The book itself is merely a tool to guide him in his training since there are no Hamon masters available. Not to mention it would teach him some other new tricks. *Cough,cough*Steel Balls*Cough,cough* Thought that might prove too difficult for him as of now since he still a greenhorn with Hamon.
> 
> Also the book serves to connect more JoJo characters to Gravity Falls. Whe now know it was Lisa the Hamon Acolyte who helped in the investigation of Paranormal activities here in Gravity Falls. And what was her relation with Ford?


	11. 『Dance Battle Tendency』

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A guest pointed out that the Hamon Mask from the previous chapter was "way-off" from the original one in Battle Tendency.
> 
> That that I say, that I did modify how it works since Oxygen Deprivations Masks Training and Studies are something rather new, so Araki couldn't possibly know what the true effects of such equipment has on a real human body. So my interpretation of the mask is similar to the real-life counterpart, that it helps with the production of blood cells which are the ones that carry the oxygen; which in this story context helps with the channeling and production of Hamon energy, and this will help increase his output.
> 
> Now the guest pointed out that the mask, "corrects the rhythm of Joseph's breathing, forcing him to breathe in a certain way or else begin to suffocate.", To this I admit that I didn't make this point clear since I thought this explanation was inherently implicit. If he is getting less air and oxygen that means that to produce Hamon he needs to find the most appropriate way to breath.
> 
> I guess this was my mistake since I didn't make it state it and make it clear.

* * *

 

Today was a very strange change of pace inside the Mystery Shack. Instead of the usual chores, Stan had everyone clean up and decorate the floor room so that they could throw a party.

A party for whom? Well, for no one in particular. This was another of Stan's schemes to rip money out of kids and teens alike.

And if Joseph was openly honest, it wasn't such a bad idea at all. A party would really cheer up the place.

"Alright party people... and Dipper. Let's talk business." The old man addressed everyone on the room who were standing in a straight line, and for once the usual dismissal wasn't directed towards Joseph for a change. "Soos, because you'll work for free, and you begged, I'm lettin' you be DJ."

"You won't regret it, Mr. Pines. I got this book to teach me how to DJ R-R-Right!" The repairman now DJ, said while holding up a manual. Any other time Joseph would've protested so that Stan paid Soos a fair wage for his work, but Soos really had to bed Stan to get the chance to DJ, so JoJo wasn't going to take away his opportunity.

"Wendy, you and Mabel will work at the ticket stand." Stand pointed to the girls, and surprisingly the one to raise an objection wasn't Wendy, but Mabel.

"What? But Grunkle Stan, this party is my chance to make new friends!" It was something that she was severely lacking. Sure Dipper, Soos, Wendy and JoJo were great, but she needed other girls her age to socialize with.

Seeing her distress, Joseph was about to offer himself to take her place, not to mention avoid whatever not-so pleasant job stand had prepared for him, but then Dipper beat him to it by raising his hand first. "I... I could work with Wendy."

Stan rolled his eyes at his grand-nibling. "You realize that if you do, you gotta commit to stay in at the ticket stand with Wendy. No getting out of it, just the two of you, _alone_ , all night."

Somehow this didn't discourage the boy one bit. "I promise."

"And finally, we got you Joe." Stan turned towards the large teen.

"Let me guess, waiter and bathroom duty." Both a miserable and disgusting way to spend a party; he much preferred the boredom of the ticket stand.

"It crossed my mind." Stand admitted without a hint that he was joking. "No you are going to be part of the entertainment."

"What?" Just what the heck did that mean?

"You are going to be the party man, in charge of making sure the atmosphere doesn't go down and people want to leave."

"Wait so my job is to pump the party up?" Now that didn't sound bad at all. "Do I get paid?"

"You are attending the party, that's your payment." Of course it is, why would Joseph ever think otherwise? Still, the idea of partying all night sounded fun enough that it didn0t bothered him all that much. "Also you have to wear this!" Stan then handed him what was going to be JoJo's attire for the evening.

"A crop-top?! Are you serious?!" Not to mention the tight black pants. It wasn't as if he couldn't pull the look of, he was more curious as why Stan was giving him such outfit.

"One of you only good attributes is that you can serve as an attraction for a very unmarketable demographic here at the shack." Stan explained what in simpler terms would be that Joseph was basically eye candy for female customers.

"Fine! I'll wear it." He would've fight against it harder, but the outfit really did catch his interest.

 **く** **==LaterInsideTheTwinsRoom==**

Dipper was standing in front of a mirror grooming in preparation for not only the party but to impress Wendy. He took a bath, used deodorant, put on some fresh clothes which included a small bowtie.

All of his preparation didn't go unnoticed by his twin sister, who had a knowing smirk adorning her face. "Oh!"

"What?" Dipper turned to look at her since her constant staring was getting to him.

Mabel took this as an invitation to imitate how Dipper sounded back on the floor during their assignments. "Uh, uh, I could work the counter with you, Wendy! Let's kiss!"

Instead of getting mad at her, Dipper decided to ignore her. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want, but I devised a plan to make sure my night with Wendy goes perfect."

"Plan?" She repeated as she realized what it could only mean. "Oh, you're not making one of those overcomplicated list-y things, are you?"

"Psh. Over complicated? Let me just..." He then took out his master plan from his pocket and proceeded to unfold it. "Alright, fold that there, kay. Step 1: Getting to know each with playful banter. Banter is like talking but smarter."

"That sounds like a dumb idea." Mabel said flatly letting him know how she felt about this plan of his.

"Yeah, see? This isn't banter. This is what I want to avoid with Wendy. The final step is to ask her to dance." Dipper could already see himself dancing all night with Wendy as his partner who would be totally impressed by his list making and planning skills. "If I follow steps 1 through 11, nothing can get in my way!"

"Dipper, you're the one getting in your way. Why can't you just walk up and talk to her like a normal person?" She offered her simple wisdom in relation to matters of the heart.

"First of all, that's step Nine." He showed her the list and how it really said «Talk to her like a normal person.», as one of the steps. "And second of all: how can you judge my methods, when yours hasn't gotten you far with Joseph."

"Joseph and I are in a pretty comfortable zone with each other." Ever since a few days ago, he cheered up again and was back to his normal self; which was great because now she didn't have to worry about cheering him up from his depressed funk he was trying to hide and instead enjoy their time together, like the knitting lessons for example, were going smoothly. "I can walk up to him anytime during this party and ask him for a dance because I know he'll never say no, but tonight isn't about him, it's about me making friends!" She huffed and walked away from Dipper.

She knew he didn't mean it, but his comment really offended her. Let him try and fail getting a dance from Wendy using that list of his. She had a party to enjoy and friends to be made.

 **く** **==TheParty==**

Mabel watched from the stairs as the floor room was slowly but surely getting filled with kids and teens from town, who wanted to party. And among these people she will surely find someone who would become her friend.

"Yadda dee, yada doo, yada doo." Grunkle Stan came from the house dressed up for the occasion, he too was ready to enjoy this new business opportunity. "Can your uncle throw a party or what?"

Indeed everything was going fine so far, although Soos was having slight hiccups here and there trying to follow the instruction manual in how to be a DJ.

"The energy, it's electric! Uhh, lightning," he pressed a key on his keyboard only to get a different sound effect. "lightning, lightning, lightning..." he kept on pressing trying to find the correct one.

"And if anyone wants to leave, I'm charging an exit fee of 15 bucks!" It was brilliant, because if the party turned out to be a disaster, he could still reign in some cash.

"Wouldn't that be illegal?" Joseph cut in coming from the house the same way Grunkle Stan did. He was dressed in the dark purplish crop-top and tight black pants that Stand had gotten for him, and he looked really good in it. "How do I look?" He asked.

"Passable." Was Stan's response, but Mabel had other thoughts.

The outfit left very little to the imagination in respect to his well defined torso, and the tight pants really accentuated his hips and legs, and those fingerless gloves he had were very stylish. In her opinion JoJo looked beyond great in that outfit; it was as if he had been born to wear it.

"You look awesome!" She finally said, receiving a small in return.

"Thank you Mabel." He was really grateful for that compliment, it showed to him he really didn't look silly wearing it. "Although I think I'm missing something." There was an itch in the back of his neck that told him that.

"I know! Wait just a sec." Mabel went back inside the house and in a matter of seconds she came back carrying something in her hands. "Here take this!" It was a long purple scarf with blue stripes. "I made this for you with some of my left over yarn."

"This is it!" Joseph cry excited as he quickly put it on. "Yes, this was what was missing!" Not only did it complete the outfit, its colors really matched it. "Great job Mabel! I love it."

"You're welcome!" Now it was her time to bask in his compliments. "It was nothing really."

"How about I repay you with a dance?" He offered earnestly. "That is if you aren't very busy partying with your new friends." He still recalled what her objective for this party was and he didn't want to get in the way of her fun.

"Sure, if you say so." Mabel accepted almost exalted. Not only did she prove to Dipper she could get a dance with JoJo, he offered it himself! That was almost like asking someone to a date right? Her slow but sure tactics in order to win Joseph's heart were really working!

"Great! Now let's hit up that dance floor and get this party started!"

 **く** **==AnHourIntoTheParty==**

Mabel was having lots of fun on the dancing floor, yet she still hadn't managed to stir up some conversations with the other party-goers. Despite that, her resolve was still strong and was determined to continue trying to make some friends.

As another song, came to an end, Mabel decided to take a little break from dancing. Walking to one of the sides of the room, Mabel took her seat as well as a healthy gulp from a water bottle; she really was working up a sweat. While she recuperated some of her energy to go back into the dance floor, she noticed something on the shoulder of the person that was sitting next to her.

"Wow! You've got an animal on your body!" If that wasn't a conversation starter, she didn't know what it was. "I'm Mabel." She introduced herself to a far bigger girl than her. This girl had auburn hair styled in a ponytail, wearing a cool pink shirt and purple shorts, but most impressive of all was her size and some of her muscles; meaning she was really strong.

"Hi, I'm Grenda." The girl said with a low gruff voice, not that it bothered Mabel a single bit. "This is Candy." The bigger girl gestured to another girl sitting on the other side. Candy was a mirror opposite to Grenda; she was petite and had long straight black hair and wore large round glasses, as for her attire she had a jade stripped shirt and a dark green skirt. And what was noticeable from Candy wasn't her Asian ethnicity, but the fact had forks taped to her fingers when she waved hello to Mabel.

"Why do have forks taped to your fingers?" Mabel couldn't help herself but ask, finding it very peculiar.

"Improvement of human being." Candy demonstrated by putting her hand inside a bowl of popcorn and pulling several thanks to the forks.

Just her luck, of all the places Mabel could've seated she did so next to the most unusual pair in the whole building.

"I've found my people!" She just knew these girls were perfect best friends' material. "Say do you want to come and dance with me at the dance-floor."

"Thanks, but we are comfortable here." Candy answered slightly disappointing Mabel with that answer.

"Yeah sorry." Grenda apologized. "Not because we don't want to, but because from here we can watch that hunky dreamboat over there." She then pointed at said dreamboat dancing among the crowd of party goers.

"Oh that's Joseph!" Mabel said when she noticed whom Grenda was referring to.

"You know him?!" Both Candy and Grenda asked surprised.

"Sure! He's my friend and if you want I can call him out here to meet you girls." Mabel offered trying to be friendly.

"Oh no, I wouldn't know what to say." Candy instantly turned red just thinking about talking with such hunk.

"Yeah, we're better of watching from afar." Grenda resigned. "You are very lucky!"

"Oh come on! JoJo doesn't bite." Mabel reassured the girls. "He's very nice!"

Before their conversation could continue on, a voice resounded around the place thanks to the speakers. DJ Soos was trying to make an announcement. "Remember dudes," he said while reading ahead on his DJ manual, "who ever, um, party hardies, what?" maybe that was a typo, "Gets the party crown! Most applause at the end of the night wins!" He announced while holding up a pretty nice-looking crown to show it off to all interested.

"Wow" amongst the interested where the duo of girls sitting on the side who had been watching Joseph dance before.

"Party crown? I'll take that, thank you very much!" A trio of girls Mabel didn't know walked up to Soos' booth and a blond girl demanded to be handed the crown, without even looking at Soos and instead more focused in looking at herself with her compact mirror.

This new individual was a girl with very long blond hair with bell-shaped bangs. She was wearing a very stylish purple jacket over a lavender dress with a periwinkle belt. She also wore black leggings with cream colored boots.

Mabel had to admit the girl knew how to assemble a great outfit, although the make-up she was wearing was a little too much. "Who's that?"

"The most popular girl in town, Pacifica Northwest." Candy answered sounding both awed and a little scared of the blond girl.

"I always feel bad about myself around her." Grenda confessed looking down on her feet, letting Mabel know that this Pacifica girl was bad news.

"I can't just give you the crown. It's sort of a competition thing." Soos tried to explain why he couldn't simply handed down somewhat nervous, never expecting someone to come so forward for the crown.

In turn Pacifica just laughed and took a microphone from the booth. "Honestly, who's gonna compete against me?" she asked rhetorically, making it sound like she believing herself to be far above others. "Fork girl? Lizard lady?" She pointed at the now self-conscious girls, putting them in the spotlight just to mock them alongside her posse.

"Hold me, Candy!" Grenda took hold of her friend seeking confort from the embararsment.

"Our kind isn't welcome here!"

Now this pet Mabel's peeve. She wasn't going to stand doing nothing while Pacifica made fun of these girls who didn't do anything. Walking heatedly up to the booth, Mabel declared with a smile, "Hey, I'll compete!" much to Grenda and Candy's shock.

"I'm Mabel." She introduced herself to the blond trying to show some friendliness and sportsmanship since they would be competing for the crown.

Pacifica gave Mabel a once-over before speaking up. "That sounds like a fat old lady's name." She mocked in an attempt to bring the girl's cheer down and destroy her self-esteem.

"I'll take that as a compliment!" Mabel didn't let that insult affect her one bit. She was far stronger than that.

Seeing as her initial tactic failed on the girl, Pacifica decided to leave and plan a better way to humiliate Mabel for stepping up to her. "May the better partier win." She declared before she and her posse menacingly walked away.

"She's going down." Mabel said to Grenda and Candy who were still amazed at her for confronting Pacifica like that.

Meanwhile, now they were out of sight, Pacifica turned to talk with her posse about how they will ensure she will get that crown at all costs, but instead she came across the large frame of the last person she expected to bump into in a place like this.

"Hey Pacifica, long tome no see." Joseph Joestar, the young man that had visited her family's mansion alongside the Oil Tycoon Robert Speedwagon weeks ago, greeted her not with an idiotic grin like the one he had the last time she saw him, when he jumped over the walls surrounding the mansion getting her in trouble with her father. Instead he had his arms crossed looking at her almost as if he was disappointed. "I would say nice seing you, but not after that little display at the DJ booth."

Pacifica gritted her teeth. "Well, I'm not thrilled to see you either." How dare he look and talk to her like that? Did he not care how much trouble he got her with her father after he pulled his little escaping stun? Not only did she have to sit though a harsh lecture from both her parents she had to endure hearing that infernal bell ring over and over again! "What are you even doing here?" Last time she heard, Sir Speedwagon had left weeks ago and still hadn't return, much to Father's disappointment who wanted to get into the man's oiling business.

In turn Joseph dropped down his upset look for a totally different. "Why haven't you heard the rumors going around town about the dashing and handsome young man who works at the Mystery Shack?" He leaned in with a knowing smirk.

"As if." Pacifica responded petulantly with crossed arms. In reality she did hear about said rumors, but because her reputation would suffer a heavy blow if she ever showed her face around this place, she didn't have an opportunity to come and check if the rumors were true or just pure exaggeration. "I don't care what the common folk gossip about."

"Really? Because I thought that was what your whole family's attitude is all about." Otherwise why would they care so much about flaunting their riches and keep up the appearance that they very nothing short of perfect about everything all the time. "That reminds me, what are you doing here? I believe this place would be below the standards of the Northwest Family."

"I-I I will not dignify that with an answer." she huffed and turned to the side to not look at him. "But you are right about one thing: this place is defiantly below me." Pacifica only came to the shack because this party was the talk of the town and she needed to at least make an appearance.

Not that she wanted to party or anything, she was in fact planning of coming and then leaving immediately after to let everyone who knew her how little she thought about the place and the party so that later when people talk about it they would all say it wasn't that good of an event.

That was until it was announced there was a crown to be won. As a Northwest she needed to prove how perfect and superior she was to everyone around, so she had no other choice but to stay and win that crown in the name of the Northwest honor.

"Hm… is that so?" Joseph said tapping the side of his head as if he was having a contemplating thought, as if he was trying to see underneath her and figure out her motivations. "Well, good luck trying to win that crown, because you're gonna need it."

"I don't need luck to win." She sneered. "Much less if it comes from you."

"Why, Pacifica that's way harsh, you wound me." He said mockingly placing a palm over his chest. "I was just trying to be nice to a fellow competitor."

"Fellow competitor…?"

"Yes, I am also competing for that crown." Well, Joseph had to compete for it whenever he liked it or not because Stan had spent some of his salary to buy it, so in a sense that crown belonged to him. And by god, he was gonna win it and recover his rightfully earned money! "Not to mention Mabel is no push over!"

Joseph then pointed towards the dance floor where Mabel was dancing to her heart's content.

"Let the battle for the party crown begin! Mabel comes out strong! Watch out, Pacifica!" Soos announced as the people around cheered, meaning that Pacifica was falling behind.

"Now if you excuse me I gotta tell Soos to play some of my songs next." He said unworried, since if Mabel won the crown he could easily asked it back from her. "See ya later, Paz." He ruffled her hair much to the girl's irritation.

"Don't you call me that! Hey come back here!" She demanded but the tall teen was long gone by the time she put her hair back how it was before. "How I hate him!"

**く==InTheMeantime==**

After a quick chat with Soos, Joseph waited by the side of the floor near the stairs letting Mabel had her turn on the spotlight while he waited for his playlist so he could show off some of his moves and wow the crowd. Who knew that all those dance lessons he receive from Granny Erina would come in handy in a place like this, thanks to them he knew he wasn't going to end up looking like a fool with no rhythm and two left feet.

"Nice party." A familiar redhead said as she took a place next to Joseph leaning against the wall with a cup of soda in her hands.

"Weren't you supposed to be outside at the ticket booth?" He reminded her how she should be doing her job like Stand told them to.

"Nah, Dipper said it was fine for me to come in here, he got me covered." Wendy said before taking a sip of her cup. "Not all of us were lucky to get the job of partying around."

"Would you've done it if it meant dressing like I am right now?" He asked with a raised eyebrow getting a laugh out of Wendy.

"W-When you put it like th-at…" She tried to get her chuckles under control. "Makes me glad I'm not Stand's working girl."

"So I'm a working girl now? When did I stop being a prostitute?" He asked before taking a jab of his own. "Besides you'll be a terrible working girl because you barely do any work around."

"Yeah you're right." She laughed; knowing that JoJo didn't meant anything bad from that jab. "My job became even easier ever since you arrive."

"Tell me about it." Now it was Joseph's turn to chuckle. "You know, I was starting to believe that Stan was just keeping you around because he was some sort of dirty old man, because I was sure he wasn't keeping you around for your work ethic."

"Nah, it's because clients feel less intimidated with me at the register instead of Stan's grumpy old face. That and no other teen around would apply for the job." She explained the reason she kept her job despite all of her laziness. "Also, shame on you for thinking I couldn't do much better than Stan for a Sugar Daddy."

"With how much of a cheapskate he is, I doubt he could ever be anyone's Sugar Daddy." Both Teens kept on laughing, enjoying the cracks they took towards Stan and each other. That lasted for a good few minutes before Joseph notice someone approaching towards them. "Oh no, here comes that guy."

"Who?" Wendy turned her head and found out it was one of her friends who was approaching. "Robbie?"

"Yep, I really don't like that guy. So I better bail."

"Come on he's not that bad."

"Whatever you say." Joseph just shrugged not wanted to get into an argument about what he really thought of Robbie. "I don't wanna risk it and cause a scene, besides my songs are about to come up." He had a crowd to wow and he a crown to win.

"Well, good luck with that." Wendy said, knowing it would be futile to tell him to stay back, so she focused on Robbie who just came towards her. "Hey Robbie."

As Joseph walked away, he saw Dipper coming by, "Hey Dipper!"

"Hi, Joseph." He greeted quickly as he passed him and went towards Wendy instead.

Whatever.

It's not like he had time for small talk since his first song was already up.

"Time to Party Hard!"

 **く** **==AfterSomePartying==**

The Karaoke portion of the completion was underway.

Pacifica went first with a song that helped her show off her ability to reach high notes. It would've been impressive had it not being somewhat grating to Joseph's ears.

Next one was Mabel who chose, in her own words, the 80s-ist, crowd pleasing-ist, rock ballad-y-ist song Soos got. And the bombastic energy in which she sang really brought back the spirit of the 1980's to the shack.

[[Don't start un-believing]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCy7lLQwToI)

_"_ _Don't start un-believing! Never don't not feel your feelings!_

_Streetlwise people! Woaaah Woaaaah!"_

_Don't start un-believing! Hold tight!_

_Streetwise people! Ooooh Whoaaaah!"_

[x]

Mabel sang the last verses and to add to the flair to the performance she decided to perform an acrobatic feat to finish off the song. "NOW I'M GONNA DO A FLIP!" And she tried, she really did. But she only managed to fell flat on her face.

Ouch, that ought to hurt.

But pain or failure wasn't enough to deter Mabel. "That was for YOU guys!"

And the crowd cheered and applauded nonetheless. She got the crowd hype even more so than Pacifica; making Joseph unsure if he could ever follow and top Mabel's performance.

"Next we have Jo-Star!" Soos announced using the moniker that Joseph suggested for his stage name, as said Jo-Star took the stage.

"Come on Soos hit it!" He didn't know if people would like this old song, but heck it was classic from a band he really liked.

[[Go Back]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgXRc0cNf4g)

_"_ _JoJo was a guy who thought he was a hermit,_

_Save from just a very few._

_JoJo left his home without anyone's permit,_

_For some new exciting views."_

_"_ _Go back, Go back!_

_Go back to that home you left!_

_Go back, Go back!_

_Go back to that home you left!"_

_"_ _Go Back JoJo"_

[x]

Thankfully the crowd new the song and apparently liked it enough to clap along as Joseph kept on singing. He didn't know if this was enough to put him in the lead for the crown, but right then he didn't care because he was having fun singing one of his favorite songs.

Everyone cheered for him except for Pacifica who not only was coming to into third but couldn't stand that Joseph was showing her off!

Meanwhile Mabel cheered alongside Grenda and Candy, but couldn't help but worry about the meaning behind the peculiar lyrics of the song itself.

The song continued and after reaching the final chorus and notes, Joseph took a bow towards the public and loudly proclaimed turning on his natural accent, "I'd like to say " _thank you_ " on behalf of the shack and myself, and I hope I passed the audition!" This earned him a few laughs and an extra applause from those who got his reference.

"Alright dudes, now we got intermission before the beginning of the next round: Dance-Off!" Everyone cheered and clap, anxiously awaiting the next competition, "In the meantime we're gonna bring it down for a minute. Ladies, dudes, now's the time." Soos then put on some slow music for the couples out-there. As people get into pairs to start dancing, Dipper appeared from the side and whispered something on the ear. "Dudes, would the owner of a silver and red dirt bike please report outside. It is being stolen right now."

The apparent owner of said bike was none other than Robbie, who shouted angrily as he ran outside to try and catch the thieves.

Tough break.

In the meantime, Joseph went to a chair and relaxed while he waited for the next round. He had been dancing and partying all night, so he definitely needed a break.

"Hey JoJo, You were excellent back there!" Mabel praised as she sat next to him.

"I could say the same to you, you really wow them all." He returned with a smile. "Even I didn't expect such a finish." This caused Mabel to blush a bit.

"Yeah, I need to work on my flips." She admitted while playing with her hair. "Say I wanted to ask you about that song." She knew she was being silly but the fact he chose such a song really got her thinking.

Was Joseph feeling homesick? Did he miss his family he left behind? Did he was starting to regret staying here in Gravity Falls? She couldn't bare the idea of JoJo was feeling as awful like that and all because of her sake. She really loved having him around, but not at the cost of his own happiness.

"It was great right? I know it is an old song but it still gets the crowd going, am I right?" Joseph answered as merry as his usual self, not showing any signs that he was holding back anything. "It's one of my favorites."

"Is it because it has the name JoJo in it?" She asked, causing eponymous teen to chuckle.

"You got me there." He freely admitted, dissipating Mabel's initial worry more and more. Maybe she really was being silly, over-thinking things. She was better off enjoying her down time with JoJo by her side.

Unfortunately her little scene together was rudely interrupted by Pacifica of all people. "You better watch out, because next round I'll be the winner!" She said pointing directly at JoJo.

"I don't know, maybe I'm not the one you should worry about." He answered while petting the head of the brunette making her to blush again from the sudden contact. "Mabel here could pull something off that would leave the two of us in the dust."

"As if." The blond crossed her arms in front of her. "If you are subpar competition, then she is even less."

"You'll be surprised." He said deciding to ignore her insults attempts to bring their mood down. "She's known for surpassing expectations, Paz."

"Don't you, call me that!" Pacifica stomped her foot trying to appear more intimidating, and failing miserable in the eyes of the older teen.

"Why not? Aren't we friends?"

"No!"

"Guess I'll have to tell Uncle Speedwagon I really don't get along with the daughter of the man who wishes to makes business with him." He replied nonchalantly, making the angry girl's blood run cold. "That would be a shame."

"You are despicable!" She gritted her teeth and stomped away.

"See you in the next round!" Joseph knew it was a very cheap and low blow to use the business relationship of his Uncle and her father like that, but he really wanted to make it clear that she wasn't capable of intimidating him in any way; it was better to leave that crystal clear so she wouldn't even think of trying again.

"What was that all about?" Mabel asked confused, since she had been completely ignore by Pacifica, who instead focused all of her ire towards JoJo. "Do you know her?"

"Kind of a long story; let's just say I had lunch with her family at her house and it didn't go well." Well, Lunch went well relatively speaking; it was what happened afterwards what went sour.

"Oh! I see." Even though it looked like the two of them didn't get along, she felt somewhat envious that the blond got to have Joseph come over to her house and meet her family for lunch. Not to mention he called her a very cute pet name! Why didn't she have a cute pet name too!?

"What about you, have you been having fun with those girls I saw you with?" Joseph pointed out to Grenda and Candy who were watching them converse from afar. "They seem like nice girls."

"Yeah they are." They cheered and applaud the loudest of the crowd after she had done with her song, and they congratulate her when she stepped down from the stage, even though they also seemed too interested in Joseph as well, even if it was from afar, which she didn't bothered her, too much.

"So what are you doing here with boring old me? Go back to them and have fun." He encouraged her, making her smile a bit.

"Okay, okay."

"By the way, have you seen Dipper at all?" He asked wondering where the little guy had gone and what was he doing.

"I've seen him here and there." Mabel responded. "I don't know what he's doing, but he's missing a heck of a party."

 **く** **==InsideTheHouseUpstairs==**

"Ahh, I can't breathe in here!" Dipper shouted from inside the closet his Clones, made from the strange Copy-Machine he discovered earlier that day, had trapped him in.

"Yes you can! Plus there are snacks and a coloring book in there for you!" Responded one of his many clones, possibly number Two or as they named him, Tyrone.

Resigning to his clones' entrapment, Dipper sat down with a sigh and proceeded to eat said snacks with a grumpy face.

 **く** **==BackAtTheParty==**

The Dance-off was about to commence.

Unlike the first part of the competition which involved partying as part of the crowd, this time it was a competition to show up some wicked dance moves against a challenger. Since the number of competitors was uneven, then it was going to be a single three way battle in the middle of the dance floor.

During the intermission each competitor selected a list of songs that would be play out mixed with the songs of the other two contestants, and would change at random intervals letting each one of them show off their moves against each other.

The list itself was a mix bag of styles and genres: Mabel chose famous hits from the 80's from pop/new wave songs and surprisingly a Hard Rock/Disco one; Pacifica went for Hit Pop songs from the last decade; and Joseph, well his was a mix of Dance Pop, Garage Rock, Electro Pop.

Despite the playlist choices, Soos was sure the mixing and the song change would not be too jarring thanks to the computer he program he had in his laptop.

"Are you dudes ready to party?" Soos called out only to receive and explosion of cheeres and claps; the public were ready. "Are our contestants ready?" Joseph raised his fist, Mabel jumped in place and Pacifica just nodded. Yep they were ready as well. "Ok, the Dance-Off is ON!" he pressed a key on his keyboard and got the desired SFX of an explosion. "Nice."

Joseph, Mabel and Pacifica were facing each other forming a triangle while rest of the party goers surrounded in a circle. And soon was Soos hit play, the music blared from the speakers and the Dance-Off began.

The first to step up to the plate was Mabel with a pretty popular Dance Pop/New wave song that really brought back the idea of how the fun it was being a girl in the 80's. And Mabel's dance moves reflected this sentiment with simple yet quirky arms and hips shakes.

[[Girls just want to live life]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws5qGqQ6MTk)

_"_ _Return home, around midnight._

_My parents say: When you gonna turn your life straight._

_I'm sorry mom; we can be more than good wives._

_And girls, they wanna live life._

_Oh girls, just wanna live life."_

[x]

_Got a call; hours way past my bed time._

_My parents yell: You are just ruining your life._

_I'm sorry dad; I know you're very wise_

_But girls, they wanna live life_

_Oh girls, just wanna live.."_

[x]

 _"_ _That's what we really want, have fun._

_When, all the schoolwork's all done,_

_Oh Girls, they wanna live life,_

_Oh girls, just wanna live life."_

[x]

After a whole minute the music started to slowly change beats and rhythm indicating the next song was going to play. This one was Pacifica's and her song was interesting to say the least.

This was the oldest song in her playlist and somewhat of a weird mix of genre; being a dance-pop song with influences of hip-hop and rap. Despite the peculiar mix, the song had been an international success and it became one of those iconic songs of its era. Meaning, everyone recognized the song despite how old it was.

[[Wannabe Me]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DB4baep8xo)

_"If you want a future, forget your past._

_If you wanna be like me, be better learn it hard._

_Now don't go wasting my precious time,_

_Get your act together and you might be fine."_

[x]

 _"_ _If you wanna be somebody, you better make some amends._

_Change your life forever, to the very end._

_If you wanna be somebody, you have to listen here_

_Money's what's important, that's the way it is."_

[x]

It was a song that fit her entitle rich girl persona. It was no wonder why she chose it as part of her repertoire.

SSoon after the song once again started to fade in towards a different genre and to tell the truth, the transition wasn't exactly the best; Soos computer software could only help so much. Still with unabated energy, it began Joseph's turn.

Joseph's first choice of song was a decade old song from an indi/garage rock band from Sweden. It wasn't a pop classic or a cultural icon like Mabel's of Pacifica's songs, but it had presence in the mid-2000's in T.V. commercials, movie soundtracks and Video-Games as well.

[[Break you up]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjSAzS_I9_A%5D)

_"_ _Call me out, hit me down, drive me mad and watch me go._

_You'll be seeing doctors around you sooner than you know._

_A little unbalanced, and that's the truth._

_I'll be kicking you can around the avenue._

_But that's alright."_

[x]

 _"_ _It'll be easier once you choose to give up._

_I won't stop now, I've already begun._

_You'll feel me smashing though your bones._

_And I'll break you up._

_And I'll break you up."_

[x]

Despite the seriousness of the lyrics, the music was somewhat laid back in comparison, which made it difficult to see how someone could dance such song. Joseph's solution? Not caring at all, while doing quite a silly dance which despite its quirkiness it caught the attention of the crowd. He wasn't worried that it could cost him the lead early on, he was having fun and he also had a plan for a big finish.

Going full circle, next song was Mabel's again; and her second song was quite the popular one in its time, staying as number one in the Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks. While the previous song was cute, this one was more energetic making everyone's heart pound.

[[Take me]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lNNVeATWn4)

_"_ _Shower me with kisses, baby._

_Shower me with love._

_Wrap me with designer clothes_

_Yet your warmth is enough._

_My eyes tear up, I don't know why._

_I don't want to say goodbye."_

[x]

 _"_ _Take me (hold me) to the sky._

_Take me, take me any, anytime._

_Take me (hold me) with you_

_I'm not ready to hear you say goodbye._

_Hold me"_

[x]

The lyrics were a little too "romantically charged" for a girl her age, thankfully her dance moves weren't too risqué, showing off how infectious Mabel's abundant energy really was. Although it was curious hold she kept turning to look at Joseph every time she could during the song, as if trying to gauge his reaction.

Next it became Pacificas' second turn at the floor. This one was a Pop Punk song from a Canadian artist, and thanks to its catchiness peaking at the top spot of the charts in eight countries, including Canada, the United States, and Australia. It would seem like Pacifica put a lot of faith in the success of the song rather than if she could dance it or not. But in reality she chose it for another reason.

[[Your Girl]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8NU98FBAf4)

_"_ _Don't play dumb, I know you know I'm so gracious_

_And, heck yeah, your girl is pretty much jealous_

_I can see she envies me_

_And you know I'm right."_

[x]

 _"_ _She's like, so vanilla_

_And sees me as a villain_

_You know you'll be better off with me._

_And that's why she's so darn afraid of me."_

[x]

Like her song from before, Pacifica's was used to brag about her supposed superiority, and her dance moves reflected this sentiment by being filled to the brim with overconfidence. This time however the song was chosen specifically to be used against her opponents by directing the lyrics towards Joseph while at the same time putting down Mabel.

Joseph didn't allow Pacifica's tactic to get to him, because he'd already predicted she was going to try and pull a trick like that. That's why he chose his next song, to counteract hers. JoJo's second song was one of the greatest hit from last year, which played non-stop at parties and nightclub's everywhere thanks to its chorus.

[[You got Swagger]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCO4oiOntfM)

_"You reach for the stars, and it feels right_

_Then you cut up all ties, and you fell light_

_You told all your friends, it's me you despise_

_That's when I realized."_

[x]

_"You wish for control, I don't doubt it._

_You put up a show, don't deny it._

_I say that you're shy, and that's not a lie_

_So what's your reply?_

_And it goes like this."_

[x]

_"There's a better way I'll assure you_

_Take me by the hand and I'll show you, there is more than money_

_'Cause all you got is swagger._

_'Cause all you got is swagger._

_I don't want to try and deceive you_

_Look into these eyes and I'll show you, there's more than money_

_'Cause all you got is swagger_

_'Cause all you got is swagger"_

[x]

Joseph noticed back when they met at her family mansion, and he saw it now, how her parent's influenced her. Back then she acted like this perfect little doll that did what she was told when she was told, and here, either as an rebellious act against her strict household, or a desperate cry for attention, she acted as the stereotypical blond queen bee. He would've mocked her for it if he didn't feel so sorry for her.

Next up was Mabel's last turn at the floor. Mabel's third and final song was much different than the previous too. Instead of being Pop/new wave, this one was a mix of Hard Rock and Disco of all things, but the charm still very present; yet because of the song's hard rock nature Mabel's song had a little more impact getting everyone else pumped too

[[Lovin' you was destiny]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewe4yTqmRos)

_"_ _This night, I wanna hear you say my name_

_Hear the music_

_That's something that makes me crazy_

_And tonight, were gonna make dreams come true._

_Because, fate brought you to me_

_Also fate brought me for you."_

[x]

_"Lovin' you was destiny, baby._

_You were made for lovin' me_

_I cannot stop lovin' you Baby_

_Can you feel the love from me?"_

[x]

Mabel dance along the beat with all the energy and optimism that she could muster since this was her big finish and she wanted to impress. She only hoped this was enough.

Meanwhile, Pacifica's third and final piece remained within the same time of genre except it also incorporated some elements of electronic music. This song had also achieved commercial success by topping the charts in eleven countries, was constantly played at clubs.

[[Knock-Knock]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVMJNVgiZPM)

_"_ _There's not a care in the world, if you got ample income._

_You may have money in your pocket, but that's not enough_

_And every boy is lining up 'cause they know that I matter_

_But I kick'em to the floor unless they look like Mick Swagger."*_

[x]

 _"_ _I'm talking about everyone begging love, love._

_Boys trying to buy me stuff, stuff_

_But I smack them if they get to rough, rough._

_Some, some, don't leave 'till I kick' em out, out._

_Or the police picks them up, up_

_Police takes 'em down, dowm_

_Po-po shuts 'em"_

[x]

 _"_ _Give up, make it stop_

_You will never break me up_

_Tonight, I'm-a feast_

_Before the sun rises east_

_Knock-Knock at the door_

_But the party won't stop, no."_

[x]

The upbeat nature of the lyrics and music could be taken as a rebuttal of Joseph's previous attempt to point out she was okay with being selfish, because no one was going to bring her down.

Finally, it was Joseph's Third song of choice. This one wasn't really a complete success, nor top any charts around the world. It was somewhat mediocre compared to his previous songs and all of the girls' songs too. Put, He didn't need the help of a number one hit song to help him.

Being a combination of hip-hop, dance, and rap rock, this song was very bombastic.

[[Push it]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ECGJMnAKPQ)

_"_ _Fools wanna hate on me_

_Fools are just envying me_

_And I know why they hate me so_

_'_ _Cause I'm so fabulous_

_Wanna be just like me_

_But they got nothing on me_

_Girls be all on me, from Britain all the way to the U.S.A"_

[x]

Sure the lyrics were a little self-centered, like the ones Pacifica chose; but Joseph knew this would give him an advantage when the song reached its chorus since he had a little ace up his sleeve. And once it arrived, JoJo took a healthy deep breath: コオオオオ!

[x]

_C'mon baby, just_

_Push it (farther)_

_Push it (farther)_

_Push it (farther)_

_Push it (farther)_

_Push it (farther)_

_Push it (farther)_

[x]

Each line Joseph stomped his feet, pushing his arms forward before lifted one arm and the other alternatively, but what made this move all the more impressive is that he released an Overdrive each time; except these were not simple Overdrives, but a modified version of the technique: The Scarlet Overdrive**. This created a Ripple of Flame to come out of his fist in single shorts burst of fire, not unlike a lighter.

It was the only Hamon Technique from the book he managed to perform without having to further refine his channeling and control.

Had any Sendō Masters seen him use such technique as pyrotechnics for a dance competition, they would've lost their minds and then lecture him about the ethics of using Hamon not only to try and win a competition, but of the sheer mockery to the ancient traditions of their art.

Thankfully there weren't any Hamon Users, or any Fire Marshalls, around to put a stop to him, because the crowd loved his display! They were so into it and no one questioned how the heck he was even doing it in the first place. There was no way he was gonna lose now!

And with one final burst of fire from his hands, the Dance-Off came to an end.

 **く** **==LaterOnTheStage==**

"Let the party crown voting commence!" Announced Soos to a cheering crowd.

Joseph looked down towards Mabel, "Good Luck, Mabel."

"Good luck to JoJo." Not that he needed any after his performance. "Good luck to you too, Pacifica."

The blond girl just scoffed and said nothing back.

"Applaud to vote for Mabel." Everyone cheered and applaud loudly for her. It seemed people really liked her performance even if she thought it didn't hold a candle against JoJo's.

"Let's check the applause meter." Soos used his arm to measure the level of cheer and applause Mabel received. "Oh, oh, very good."

"And for our second contestant: Joe-Star." The crowd cheered and applauded even louder than they did with Mabel. And who could blame them, that last round with the pyrotechnics and special FX's blew everyone's mind. "Oh! Now that is something!" Soos commented as his arm rose higher and higher.

There was no doubt in Joseph's mind that he had this in the bag, there was no way Pacifica could rank higher than him, and that mean that crown was all his. 'I'm gonna get my money back!' He knew he had that crown in the bag. Then why did he felt something was going to go wrong?

To his side Pacifica looked completely calmed, not the least bit worried that she might lose. What gave her that kind of confidence?

That's when Soos called out the applause for Pacifica. "And last but not least: Pacifica." The place roared in applause! How could they cheer for her so loud? She couldn't have impressed the crowd better than JoJo did, could she? "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner." He said disappointed, but he had to call it like it was, and Pacifica was the clear winner. "The winner of the contest is Pacifica Northwest." He proceeded to hand her the crown, the prize of her victory.

"Thank you, Jorge. Thank you everyone!" She accepted the crown and placed it on top of her head. "As a thank you, everyone is invited to the after-party celebration! Woo-hoo!" People cheered for her even more and even carried her off, leaving the Shack without any more party goers.

"Pacifica! Pacifica! Pacifica!" People chanted as they slowly disappeared into the distance towards the after-party.

"What the-?!" Joseph asked confused, still trying to process the fact that he lost. "How in the-?!"

"Oh so that's how she did it." Soos said looking down his his phone in his hands. "She posted in social media that if she won there was going to be an after party at her parent's private boat."

"What? Show me that!" Joseph demanded, and lo-and-behold there it was a post from Pacifica with several up-votes and comments. Though he was seeing it with his own eyes he still couldn't believe it.

"So she cheated!" Mabel cried out, feeling robed. "Oh she really is mean!"

"So, I guess this is how it feels to be cheated out of a victory." It was a first time for Joseph and it really sucked. From then on he promised he would cheat harder so that he would never be the one cheated ever again. "I guess「Money」was more powerful than Hamon this time around."

"I'm sorry for your loss, JoJo." Mabel tried to comfort him and he was grateful for the attempt.

"Nah, this is for the better." He wasn't going to get the full money back from that crown anyways. Besides, he had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the last time he and the others would have to deal with Pacifica Northwest. "You were incredible in the dance floor by the way." He petted her on top of the head.

"Not as great as you were." She said slightly blushing from the contact.

"Are you kidding?! You were awesome!" A very deep voice cut in, making both contestants looked back at Grenda and Candy who didn't went along with the crowd towards the after-party. "You're like, a total rock star!"

"Do you think we could stay with you for a sleepover?" Asked Candy, surprising Mabel a bit.

"Eh?"

"We want to call our moms and see if we can sleep over here with you." Grenda explained as Candy pulled out something from her backpack.

"I have magazine boys."

Mabel was almost speechless, even though she lost the contest, these girls still wanted to be her friends and stay with her. "Really? You GUUYS!" This party was totally worth it after all.

"Maybe we don't have as many friends as Pacifica, but we have each other, and that is pretty good I think." Candy pointed as she fixed her glasses slightly.

Mabel was beyond ecstatic. "Soos! Play another song! This thing's going all night!" It wasn't too late and she was defiantly going to party with her new girls!

"Don't forget I still owe you one dance Mabel." Joseph recalled, he promised her so he was going to keep his word, just like granny Erina instructed wanting him to become as good a gentlemen as his grandfather Jonathan.

"I could never forget!" Mabel laughed before an idea popped in her head. "Say would you also share a dance with my new friends?"

"Sure why not?" He still got plenty of gas in the tank even after using several consecutives Overdrives in order to win the dance competition. By the way, he still couldn't believe he could use Hamon create fire from his fist, and how easy it was despite the fatigue. "Heck, everyone get a dance with me!" He then turned over-dramatically towards Wendy who stayed as well. "Except for you Wendy, you hanged around Robbie all evening."

"Up yours!"

Everyone laughed as Soos put on some music, so that their "after-party" could continue.

"By the way, has anyone seen Dipper around?" Whenever he was and whatever he was doing, he missed out in a pretty good party, all things considered.

 

 **く** **==ToBeContinued==**

『Lwpi Rpcsn pcs Vgtcsp axzt pqdji YdYd: Wxh Wpxg, wxh qdsn, wxh spcrt bdkth pcs wxh djiuxi.』

『Lwpi Eprxuxrp wpith pqdji Ydhtew: Iwpi xsxdixr hbxgz du wxh.』

『Kdademd je ZeZe jxu Sbedu Mqh ijqhjut qdt udtut yd mxybu xu mqi fqhjoydw. Cqdo Sbedu bylui muhu beij.』

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Return of Pacifica Northwest is here! And she's not happy to see Joseph after all this time. Much less when he is now a competitor for the crown! Oh also, Grenda and Candy are here too.
> 
> No training or Hamon battles in this chapter, but I guess Joseph deserves a little break and have fun once in a while. Speaking of fun...
> 
> Boy, oh boy, this chapter. Something I really like when on Tv series and cartoon they make an musical episode; I freakin loved them so much, so I used this chapter as an opportunity to play "Weird Al" and make a bunch of "Parody" covers from popular songs.
> 
> So I'll understand if you people do not like this, since I wrote it mostly for myself.
> 
> Now for the Playlist of this chapter:
> 
> 1- Trek – Don't start un-believing.  
> 2- The Fan Four – Go Back.  
> 3- Mindy Looper – Girls just want to live life.  
> 4- Spicy Girl – Wannabe Me.  
> 5- Caesar Salad – Break you up.  
> 6- Brunette – Take me.  
> 7- April Lasagne – Your Girl.  
> 8- Chestnut5 – You got Swagger.  
> 9- B.U.S.S – Lovin' you was destiny.  
> 10- Ca$he – Knock Knock.  
> 11- Dark Eyed Bean – Push it. 
> 
> * This one is for those who like the Loud House.
> 
> **Did Araki forget he made Jonathan capable of punching fire with Hamon (and therefore all other Hamon users)? Because something like that really could've come in handy for Joseph in various occasions.
> 
> Next chapter is Irrational Treasure, where Pacifica also makes an appearance, and Joseph would have more opportunities to talk with her; I tell for the sake of you who can't get enough of her and want to see her more.


End file.
